The 103rd General Assembly also began this week, and that comes with the introduction of new legislation.
HB4664, originally written to amend the Wholesale Drug Distribution Licensing Act, was passed by the House of Representatives on March 3, 2022. This month, the Senate adopted amendments that replaced the contents of the bill with several pro-abortion measures. Today, Gov. Pritzker signed it into law. As amended, HB4664:
- Allows non-physicians to perform surgical and aspiration abortions that do not require general anesthesia. It also ends the requirement that a physician is present for such abortions.
- Creates "temporary permits" for physicians and non-physicians from other states to commit abortions in Illinois.
- Protects abortionists who flee to Illinois after losing their licenses in other states for breaking pro-life laws. These abortionists are allowed to practice in Illinois, and Illinois will legally protect them from other states' efforts to extradite them for violations of pro-life laws.
- Removes liability from healthcare professionals and medical institutions if a legal and consensual abortion causes a mother's death.
- Allows birthing centers to commit abortions
- Mandates that health insurance plans cover abortion and abortion drugs without deductibles or co-pays (regardless of whether the plans would provide coverage for prescription drugs otherwise).
- Allows for the disposal of human embryos created through "assisted reproduction" such as IVF.
One amendment that thankfully did not pass would have given the Attorney General the power to investigate and prosecute pro-life sidewalk counselors, protestors, and crisis pregnancy centers for "deception" or "omission of any material fact" regarding abortion.
Another notable amendment that did not pass would have used taxpayer funding to cover the travel, food, lodging, childcare, translation, "doula support," and abortion expenses of women who travel from other states to have abortions in Illinois.
The amended version of HB4664 passed the Senate by a party-line vote of 41-16 on January 10, 2023. Senators Jason Plummer (R) and Brian Steward (R) did not vote. On the same day, the House of Representatives voted 70-39 to approve the Senate's amendments. The representatives who were present also voted along party lines except for Rep. Sue Scherer (D), who opposed the bill. On January 13, Gov Pritzker signed HB4664 into law.
HB5188 was another "shell bill" that was amended by the Senate. This legislation would mandate that all public schools in Illinois adopt the "National Sex Education Standards" published by the Future of Sex Education (FoSE). These standards largely deal with sexual orientation and gender ideology, but they also include standards that promote abortion.
By 2nd grade, the standards teach students to accept cohabitation (non-marital sexual relationships) as a normal "type of family." By 8th grade, it would teach students to identify abortion as a "pregnancy option." To promote abortion, the standards teach "all pregnant young people to have decision-making power in their reproductive health decisions."
The amended version of HB5188 did not receive a vote in the Senate before the lame-duck session ended.
SB3799 was another "shell bill" that originally dealt with cannabis transporting licenses. It was amended by the House of Representatives to create a variety of pro-abortion policies. This bill did not progress to a third reading in the Senate before the lame-duck session ended, but it appears that many of its provisions were added to the final version of HB4664.
103rd General Assembly
The 103rd session of the Illinois General Assembly was inaugurated on Jan 11. With the start of the new session, any bills from the 102nd can no longer be considered. It is possible (and even likely) that legislators will reintroduce those policies in the form of new bills, however.
On January 12, a slew of new bills was introduced. We will highlight a few of them here. All of these bills were referred to the House Rules Committee and await assignment to standing committees.
On January 12, a slew of new bills was introduced. We will highlight a few of them here. All of these bills were referred to the House Rules Committee and await assignment to standing committees.
HB0003 and HB1046 were introduced by Rep. Mary Flowers (D). Either of these bills would expand the number of non-physicians allowed to perform abortions by including midwives. These bills would also expand Illinois's legal definition of "medical facility" to include "reproductive health centers."
HB1148, the Ultrasound Opportunity Act, was introduced by Rep. Charles Meier (R). This bill would require that pregnant women be given the opportunity to receive and view an ultrasound prior to the abortion of any unborn child after 8 weeks gestation.
HB1162, introduced by Rep. Paul Jacobs (R), would prohibit the use of mobile abortion clinics. Pro-abortion groups are using this tactic to more easily offer abortions to women traveling to Illinois from pro-life states.
