Interview: Sarah Garza Resnick On The Fight For Abortion Access

This episode is a conversation between Rabbi Lizzi and Sarah Garza Resnick from our virtual Repro Shabbat service on February 16th. As the CEO of Personal PAC, Sarah had plenty of exciting updates to share from the frontlines of the fight for abortion access.

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Produced by Mishkan Chicago. Music composed, produced, and performed by Kalman Strauss.

Transcript

Transcript

Hello and welcome to contact ky. We have a real treat for you today. This episode is a conversation between Rabbi Lizzi and Sarah Garza. Resnick from our virtual repro Shabbat service on February 16th. As the CEO of personnel pack Sarah had plenty of exciting updates to share from the front lines of the fight for abortion access, take it away rabbi.

February is a month with a lot going on actually. And it's always the month in which we do repro Shabbat because of how the Jewish calendar works and if you heard the sermon last Shabbat you heard me talk about why last week was sort of the official week of repro Chabad because there's actually a little Torah a reference sort of an Easter egg hidden in the Torah,

giving us the basis upon which Jewish communities have for a very long time been pro reproductive rights.

This week is the week we could get Sarah Garza Resnick, who is the president and CEO of personal pack to come speak with us online.

And for you now and for everybody listening on the podcast later. Sarah is the president and CEO of personal pack and prior to this role, she was the chief deputy assessor for the Cook County Assessor for its Ke and the chief of staff to Cook County Clerk David Orr. Pretty sure I'm pretty sure it was his office that made my wedding certificate possible. And and a Cook County Public Defender.

Sarah graduated from Cardozo Law School where she worked at the Innocence Project. She received her undergraduate degree from in political science and economics from Brandeis and her master's degree in political sociology from the London School of Economics. She is a leadership Greater Chicago fellow and an Illinois Women's Institute and Leadership Fellow. But maybe, and most impressively, and importantly, she serves on Mishcon board. Sarah lives in Bridgeport with her two sons, Ava and Zeke, you might have seen, you might see one or both of them online. Tonight, we asked Sarah to come on tonight to bring us up to speed in what is happening in the world of reproductive rights and justice, something that is very dear to the collective heart of the Jewish community. Hi, Sara.

Do you can unmute you should unmute allow. We're doing this now older and I apologize. But they're part of my life. So Oh, no, that's great. But I mean, as you see, like, it's impossible to it's you can't really you can't predict how they will show up. But they do. And that's great. And that's great. So Sarah and I are going to have kind of a conversation tonight, where Sarah is going to do most of the talking.

Where do you give us an overview of what your organization personal PAC does, and its history in Illinois, and maybe like what makes it unique in the world of the political world of reproductive rights? Sure. So hello, Mishcon and Chicago, thank you so much for having me. Lizzi Rabbi Lizzi is words spoke

so deeply to me, because there's so many things that grabbed my attention. I care so much about so many issues that the people around us are suffering from. But for me, reproductive rights is like the foundation of it all. If we can't have control of our bodies, then I don't believe we literally have nothing. So thank you for having me. So personal pack was started at the kitchen table of an amazing woman named mercy and love in 1978. The year I was born. She is a Republican Woman from the north shore of Chicago, whose family came over on the Mayflower. And this is her issue. And she wanted to start an organization and she had a vision of a bipartisan or nonpartisan political action committee that would fight to make Illinois a pro choice state. For many of us, we really think that we live in this oasis, but that Oasis did not happen by accident. She sat at her kitchen table, she gathered her friends and she started writing letters to legislators. Illinois used to be one of the most anti choice states in this country.

And she plotted she's still alive. She's 86 years old. She plots with me every single week still, to turn Illinois into one of the most pro choice

states. And it is because of her lofty vision that we are here with the privileges that we have today. So what do we do?

I spend most of my time raising a lot of money. And I use that money to ensure that pro choice elected officials are elected at every single level of a ballot.

So at the beginning, it was really about turning legislators over and, and then getting those getting those legislators to pledge. We send out many, many questionnaires, every single election cycle that they pledged to vote with us, and they will always stand with us. And then we go down to Springfield,

to get people to do the hard work to cast hard votes. And at the beginning, that was a really hard thing to do, when it was a really hard vote to take for those legislators. But they knew because we had big coffers, that we will have their back. And that is how we turned Illinois from one of the most anti choice states in the country to one of the most. It's a reproductive, we are a reproductive oasis. Many of you may not know but Illinois is the second recipient of medical refugees in the country. The only state above us right now is about to fall because of their Supreme Court. And it's Florida. If that six week ban goes into effect in Florida, which we think is likely to happen. Illinois is going to face a tsunami of people who have nowhere else to go but us we will be the closest state to the South that has full reproductive freedom.

So the stakes are high. But I say we are the only state PAC so I don't endorse in federal elections. We only work in Illinois, and we are trying to build these state packs in other places.

Wow, Sarah, that's a lot of pressure on your one pack here in Illinois.

What are your organization's priorities for this year? Like? How are you deciding amongst all of the like all of the I'm imagining there are lots of levels of what feels like emergency

relative to what you just said, you know, about Illinois, maybe becoming the most high traffic destination for people from everywhere south of us. So how are you deciding, you know, kind of what to do and what order? Yeah, so I really take my lead from the amazing abortion providers all over state. There are Planned Parenthood's. And there are independent clinics, who do the hard work every day of providing compassionate, full reproductive health care to increasingly an alarming rate of people being forced to flee their state to get essential health care. So I listen to them. I have my ear to the ground. I talk to them every day. I'm kind of like the bat phone for them, right? Like they have a problem. And then they call me and they're like, What do I do?

And so I work with and we have an amazing Governor and Governor Pritzker, I could not have a better partner and all of his staff at the office who take all of my phone calls to put up every single fire that comes our way. And we have amazing legislative leaders and our speaker and the senate president. But increasingly, this battle because we have got pro choice super majorities in our legislature and then the great attorney general and a great governor. These battles are being fought on the front lines in the city halls in the county board elections and our school board elections.

And so my goals for 2024 are to ensure that we keep our pro choice majority in the state legislature. There's no constitutional officer at the statewide level

up for election this year, but our county board races really matter. So please do research into your state's attorney's races. If Donald Trump becomes our president again.

Who are Cook County State's Cook County State's Attorneys are or Lake County State's Attorneys. Any State's Attorney matters greatly because I believe that abortion is healthcare and healthcare should never be criminalized. So even if there is a nationwide ban on abortion, like Donald Trump said today

are cookout our State's Attorneys can decide whether we will be criminalized for activity that I will surely promote that we should keep golfing and that we should not have to how to Donald Trump and his Republican cronies. And then what I really am so excited by and why I really wanted this job is because I know that the majority of Americans are with us and the majority of Illinoisans are with us they believe

that abortion should be left up to a woman and her doctor or a pregnant person and their doctor.

But we need to activate that pro choice majority in every single corner of our state. We can no longer say we can just went up here in the collar counties in Chicago, there are pro choice voters that need our support everywhere. That can give a quick example, in Danville, Illinois, which is on the border of Indiana, about an hour outside Champaign. There to abortion providers to black women who wanted to open an abortion clinic in Danville, Illinois. And a man

named Mark Lee Dixon, who hails from Texas. And he's a real, real dirtbag. He thinks that abortion should be punishable to death, that

he came to Illinois, and he's traveling the state and rural communities and trying to pass the sanctuary of the unborn. And what they're trying to do is that they're trying to outlaw abortion in cities now in Illinois, that violates our constitution that violates our state statutes. But he's successfully trick the people of Danville into passing. And so we created a personal pet chapter, we activated the local act of like we gave the activists who wanted to do the right thing who wanted to stand up to their lair and say, No, and we gave them the tools, we just amplified their voices. And they are now they're standing up to their mayor. And these, these women are going to open this clinic on the Indiana border that is so desperately needed. So I'm trying to get everyone This isn't a big city issue. This isn't a blue state issue. This is an everybody issue.

How do you how do you make this and everybody issue? First of all, when there are so many issues tugging at everybody's heartstrings and attention? You know, just for the average voter who has a lot of concerns, and is thinking about a lot of things. How do you make this like the kitchen table issue? Well, I think the examples are here in the room with me.

Say more, say more.

It's a great thing, guys. Raising children is incredibly expensive. It from a time from a personal perspective, and from a financial perspective. And children deserve parents and mothers that absolutely want them to be here. I had the privilege of making the choice when I was 22 years old when and if I wanted to become a mother and I had an abortion, because I was not ready to be a mom. Not emotionally, not financially, it was not possible. A you've had stuff on suitable.

And I got to make a different choice when I was when I turned 35 and brought these children into the world. Because I received my education because I was ready to be a fully actualized woman who had children.

And I know when when when I was pregnant with this one Zeek and Ava and I took the bus every day to his preschool. And I sat on that bus and watched other parents.

And I honestly did not know how they did it. Because I thought to myself every day, what if I had a minimum wage job? What if I didn't have parents who helped me and picked up my kids and watched my children? What if I didn't have this job where I made a good salary? What if I didn't have health care? What if I didn't have the AMEX in my wallet? If I was short that month, I knew I could still go and buy groceries and feed my children?

What if I had a job that didn't let me have control over my schedule? I don't know, honestly, how regular everyday people do this. And no every child deserves to be born into the family where the people were families have the patience and the love and the means to be the parents that we need to be.

And so actually reproductive healthcare is a you got to stop.

Reproductive Health care is the key to like I believe having children that grow up in families in what they actually deserve.

Is this work connected to your Jewish values? And if so, how is this work connected to your Jewish values? Yeah, so I mean, I was raised in a family and our kind of tagline was, the Jewish people have been treated poorly throughout history many, many, many times over, and we have an obligation to now go make the world a better place. And so I feel so privileged to be in a real be part of a religion and a proud member.

Have a religion that says that abortion is legal, and that the woman's health, our mental health, our ability to show up as actualized, fully human beings matter.

And I am so proud to be a Jew, I always tell people like I always dissuade reporters when I talk to them. Please don't make this about a religious issue. It is not a religious issue. There are religions that have deep convictions that believe that a woman or a pregnant person has a right to choose what they do with their own bodies. That when you just talked to reporters don't make this a religious issue like assuming religious people are anti choice religious people because they're religious believe that. Life begins at conception and abortion is murder. No, actually, it's it's Jews and maybe other traditions, too. I don't know. But certainly the Jewish tradition is, well, that's not us. And I think even like in Florida, and and other places, Jewish groups brought amicus briefs, right to say in the face of legislation that was restricting abortion, this actually prevents us from observing our religion, like, Right? Absolutely. And I hope more people bring those actions, because we need to not let this be about religious freedom. They are actually in those states with those bans are actually denying us our ability to exercise our religion. That's right. Our religious freedom. Yeah.

Is there I mean, you've been in this job now, what, two years, three years? A little over a year, but that's Oh, my God, Sarah, I feel like it's been a i Well, okay. Congratulations. It's been over just over a year.

I'm curious, you know, is there anything

that has surprised you? And my phone is in the other room?

There you go. Digital babysitter,

digital babysitter? Is there any What has surprised you? You know, since you've got into this work, I imagine it's very, very different from working for the state, whether as an attorney or, you know, as an assessor, or in the, in the office of the county clerk.

Can I ask I mean, this wasn't like one of our one of our planned questions. But what has really surprised you, in this way that's really surprised me is, it might be my personality, and sorry for the bouncing child doing the DAB and back, but

it's how people have trusted me with their stories.

Most human beings on this planet have an abortion story.

Whether it's a friend or a mom, or sister, or themselves, and so many people in very intimate, you know, lunches and coffees, look at me and say, Can I tell you something? Of course you can. And I'm really open about my own abortion story. And, and I hold those stories so deeply.

And then I say,

you know, is there do you ever share this with other people? And people's response is often no, I feel like I'm not supposed to write. And I said, well, but that's the thing is that our stories have power. Our stories make us realize that we're all connected.

And I do believe that the anti choice movement, one of the reasons they've been so successful, is that they have for decades now made us feel ashamed when we have nothing to be ashamed about, that we're doing. Abortion is existed throughout the millennium.

And that's the truth. Yeah, well, and even as you say that

they have stories they tell, you know, there are a couple different there. I feel like a couple different archetypal stories, one of them is of the, you know, the pain experienced by the fetus, what but one is of the person whose parent didn't get an abortion, and now here they are, and they're so grateful to be alive. And, you know, if that parent had gotten an abortion, they wouldn't be here. And and it's like, how can you argue with that? But, you know, to your point earlier, somehow, somehow that person got raised in a in a way that they were convinced that actually they were wanted, which like, Thank God, but you can't always guarantee that and you shouldn't have to know and this isn't.

This isn't about that. Right? Like, of course, I want a real like a person that's not a clump of cells. That looks like a cotton ball to exist. But I would also be very in favor of,

you know, gun legislation, and I don't understand people who think that a

children who were shot at a celebrating their childhood superheroes in Kansas City this week have are less have have less of a meaning of their life than a clump of cells in my uterus. I don't understand that. And I never will.

And I, I think that this child bouncing on a chair matters way more than something that looks like a cotton ball. But what do you still have the cotton? Yeah.

Yeah, what I what I said last week at services is Jewish tradition

considers a fetus to be part of the mother's body until birth. And at the SEC, the second, the head crowns, I believe it's like, and now it's a person. And now you give them all the full benefits of personhood. But before then it it's, it's a part of the mother's body. You know, that really important part. But you know, mom, pregnant person gets to decide.

You know, so is there anything we haven't covered that you want people to hear that you haven't said? You want to make sure people hear tonight? Yeah, so the news today had me really, really upset. Why? Because if I need you to the other room five more.

I know you're having fun. Sorry, everyone. McDonald. It was leaked today that Donald Trump has been talking behind closed doors, about a

compromise, a 16 week ban on abortion.

If he becomes president, and I just to a lot of people, that seems reasonable. But I want to tell you why it's not Oh, every single pregnancy, and every single human being who gets pregnant is an individualized case. And government has no business doing it. And every week, I meet people, and I want us to all put ourselves in that position. For those of us who've ever had children. It's that 20 week ultrasound, when you go into the doctor's office, and someone puts jelly on your belly, and you know, and they're waving something around that they're checking whether all the bits and pieces are there. And it's a very personal as someone who's done it twice, it's a scary moment. And you are hoping that the person tells you that everything is okay. But for some people, it's not okay. And they get the worst news that they could possibly ever hear. And then they have to make a very hard choice. And I looked at those people in the eyes, I talked to them, I text them. For them, this is deeply personal. And the government can have no part in whatever decision they make.

And so it is not a compromise, there is no compromise. Abortion must be legal, whenever someone needs it, because we cannot get to dictate when it is medically necessary or when people need help.

And so, if that happens,

people will die. And that is the reality didn't know what we are facing. And so please don't fall for it. Please speak up when other people think it's a compromise. Use your voices. Because what I will tell you is that this is the issue that the majority of Americans agree on. And what this country needs more than anything right now is an issue that people can agree on. Or we can build bridges, where we can hear each other or we can share each other's stories, because that will actually unleash the ability to solve other seemingly intractable problems. So please speak up. This election matters greatly. And we cannot get distracted by the other horrific things going on in this world. I promise you if you tell your abortion story, and you talk openly about this, we will win this election.

Please God

thank you, Sarah. So much for taking time out of your Shabbat night. Thank you Abe and Zeke for sharing your mom with us. Thank you Sarah for your work and dedication to fight the good fight on behalf of women and people with a uterus anywhere

and and for all the people who love us and want to see us have safe accessible health care.

Thank you. Thank you thank you for everyone listening I'm not sorry bye. Bye bye Zeke.

Shabbat replay is a production of Mishcon Chicago. Our theme music was composed and performed

I'm joined by Kalman Strauss, you can always see where and when our next service will be on our calendar. There's a link in the show notes. And if you appreciated the program, please rate and review us on Apple podcasts. I know you've heard it before, but it really does help. On behalf of Team Mishcon. Thank you for listening