The newly amended draft for Illinois HB2354 - The Reproductive Health and Access bill, has now been posted on the General Assembly website, and it hasn't changed very much. The bill still seeks to:
1) Make abortion a fundamental right preventing any common sense regulation, including parental notification for minors seeking abortions
2) Allow partial birth abortions
3) Expand public funding of abortion through medicaid and possibly state health insurance plans
4) Mandate a program of comprehensive sex education in every public school. (The bill stipulates that the course material and instruction must be free of bias in regards to gender identity and sexual orientation. They are now allowing parents to opt out of this instruction, but how many parents will be informed enough to opt out? What impact will such instruction to the majority of our public school students have on the moral fabric of our society?)
5) Significantly weaken the Illinois Health Care Conscience Act by requiring the provision of information and referrals for abortion.
Obviously they did not hear our concerns loud enough. They will attempt to convince legislators that the amendment makes enough changes to deserve their support. Please call and email your Illinois State Representative as soon as possible to let them know that you are still opposed to this bill, and that you would still like them to vote against the bill.
April 3rd (this Friday) is the deadline for this bill's passage in the House (although they can always override those restrictions if it's a popular bill), so there will be a real push to pass this before the deadline. Please pass this on to all who will help protect our children, our families, and our society from the ramifications of this bill.
Thanks for all you do. Your calls and emails created enough pressure to prevent the bill from passing so far. Please keep up the great work!
Click here to get information to contact your Representative
Click here for more information
You can also read the full text of the new amendment for the bill by going to www.ilga.gov and then click on "bills and resolutions" On the next page, click on the bill number (HB2354) and then click on "House Amendment 002" at the top of the page. This will also give you updates on the status of the bill.
Talking Points
SECTION 15: On forbidding the State or any municipality, political subdivision, or government agency to deny or interfere with a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy HB 2354:
* creates a fundamental right to abortion which entails a great range of consequences, some unknown, except that all provisions of the Act are to be "liberally construed";
* prevents any state regulation of abortion, including those upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Casey v. Planned Parenthood (1992), including waiting periods, informed consent and parental notification.
* Thirty years ago, we were told abortion would be a rare but necessary tragedy; today, we are being told abortion is a human right and those who attempt to regulate it in any manner or who will not provide it should be legally punished.
SECTION 35: On rights of conscience, HB 2354:
* Significantly weakens the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act, which ensures healthcare professionals do not have to obtain, receive, accept, deliver, pay for, or arrange for medical care that is contrary to their conscience;
* requires health care professionals to provide prior notice to patients of their moral and religious beliefs;
* coerces health care professionals to materially cooperate in the procedures or services they morally object to by requiring they or someone in their employ provide "timely and accurate information and referral";
* mandates every healthcare facility in the state, including Catholic hospitals, to employ someone to provide "timely and accurate information and referral" for abortion.
SECTION 15: On Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act:
* Illinois' Parental Notice of Abortion Act has been tied up in the courts for over ten years, despite the Illinois Supreme Court issuing rules for the judicial bypass in October 2006;
* The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to make a new ruling on the statute, possibly lifting the injunction, within weeks;
* The enactment of HB 2354 would invalidate Illinois' parental notification statute by prohibiting the state from any "interference" with the "right" to abortion and again using the language "Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act or any other law to the contrary."
* As of the end of 2008, 35 states, and every Midwestern state other than Illinois, have implemented a parental consent or notification of abortion law.
SECTION 20: On public funding of abortion, HB 2354:
* requires state Medicaid assistance to cover the costs of abortion in all instances.
* In fiscal year 1977/78, before Illinois had any restrictions on state Medicaid funding of abortion, 12,738 abortions were paid for with public money.
* In fiscal year 1981/82, after the federal Hyde amendment and Illinois law restricting government funding of abortion were upheld in court, the number of abortions paid for with public money dropped to 22.
* In 1990 a Cook County Circuit Court judge expanded the cases in which Medicaid funding could be used for abortion, and since then public money has been used to fund several hundred abortions every year.
* If House Bill 2354 were enacted, any regulation of Medicaid funding of abortion would be invalidated, and Illinois would likely return to funding thousands of abortions every year.
* House Bill 2354's requirement that any "State medical assistance" provide financial assistance for reproductive healthcare may be interpreted to require state health insurance to cover abortion.
SECTION 30: On comprehensive sex education, HB 2354:
* mandates comprehensive sex education in grades K-12 by amending the statutorily defined Comprehensive Health Education Program (which is mandated K-12);
* wrests local control from parents and local school boards on the best approaches to sex education in their communities.
Conclusion
In 2007, the most recent year the Illinois Department of Public Health has complied statistics, there were 45,298 abortions in Illinois. In Illinois, the sad fact is that anyone can procure an abortion for any reason at any stage of pregnancy. Many people of good will have had to accept the fact our laws do not protect unborn human life. Still, it's not enough. Now, we are told there should never be regulation of the taking of those lives nor conscientious objection among health-care workers allowed.
House Bill 2354 is a radical effort to codify a fundamental right to abortion and ensure all conscientious objections are swept aside, politically and in the health care profession.
Please vote NO.
Click here to get information to contact your Representative
Please also visit http://StopIllinoisFOCA.com for more information.
