Will Gov. Rauner follow his party's position on abortion?

 

So what does the Illinois Republican Party's platform say about the topic of "Protecting the Right to Life" - and will Governor Rauner's actions on HB 40 reflect the Republican Party's views?

From the IL GOP website: 


    VI. PROTECTING THE RIGHT TO LIFE

    We believe that our natural rights, as enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, begin at conception and continue until natural death. We believe that these rights include the fundamental right to life of unborn children, and we support the appointment or election of judges who share that belief.

    We support a human life amendment to the federal and Illinois constitutions affirming the right to life of unborn children, and we support making clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children.

    We advocate the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

    We oppose the use of taxpayer funds to pay for abortions or to support organizations that perform abortions, that participate in the purchase or sale of fetal tissue or organs, or that create and destroy human embryos for the harvesting of stem cells for research or treatment purposes.

    We believe that the practices of partial birth and late-term abortion are so morally repugnant that we specifically, and strongly, affirm our opposition to those practices.

    We believe that physicians should be required to notify a minor child’s parents or guardians prior to the performance of an abortion.

    We applaud the work of pregnancy care centers in reducing abortions. We support public policies that encourage adoption—by reducing costs and streamlining processes—as an alternative to abortion.

    In order to protect women’s health, we believe facilities in which abortions are performed should be required to meet the same medical operating standards as other outpatient surgery centers, including undergoing periodic health and safety inspections.

    We support enactment of the Illinois Born-Alive Infant Protection Act, which guarantees appropriate medical care for babies whose birth is incidental to abortion.


Click here to download a pdf of the Illinois Republican Platform

 The party's rank and file are strongly opposed to public policy that makes access to abortions easier.

Will Governor Rauner - elected into office by Illinois Republicans - hold to the party's views on HB 40?
 
Click here for more from Illinois Review

Action:

-Contact Governor Rauner, thank him for his promise to VETO HB40.  

-Urge Gov. Rauner to keep his promise and VETO HB 40

Click here to contact Governor Rauner.

Click here for more information on this bill.

Major US doctors group slams physician-assisted suicide

The American College of Physicians, the second-largest physician group in the United States with 152,000 members, has declared that physician-assisted suicide (PAS) is unethical.

The ACP takes a forthright stand in the latest issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. Supporting appendicies covering most of the arguments for and against physician-assisted suicide (PAS). Currently PAS is legal in Oregon, Washington, Montana, Vermont, California, Colorado and the District of Columbia, following ballot initiatives, legislation or a court order.

Although the ACP recognises the depth of feeling in the debate, it has not budged from opposition. Its conclusion is:

The ACP does not support the legalization of physician-assisted suicide, the practice of which raises ethical, clinical, and other concerns. The ACP and its members, including those who might lawfully participate in the practice, should ensure that all patients can rely on high-quality care through to the end of life, with prevention or relief of suffering insofar as possible, a commitment to human dignity and management of pain and other symptoms, and support for families. Physicians and patients must continue to search together for answers to the challenges posed by living with serious illness before death.

In a sense, the ACP position paper is very “traditional” in its concerns and arguments. It even jibs at woolly terminology used in the debate:

Terms for physician-assisted suicide, such as aid in dying, medical aid in dying, physician-assisted death, and hastened death, lump categories of action together, obscuring the ethics of what is at stake and making meaningful debate difficult; therefore, clarity of language is important.

Click here for more from National Right to Life

ACTION ALERT - Taxpayer-funded abortion bill (HB40) on Governor Rauner's Desk

Illinois Review has reported that Democrats have moved a bill that would cause taxpayers in Illinois to pay for abortions for low income women and state employees to the governor's desk Monday morning.

In April, Governor Rauner said he would veto the measure. Last week he told reporters he was now undecided. He's been talking to abortion advocates - including his wife Diana - and now pro-lifers are concerned the Republican governor could sign HB 40 into law.

State Rep. David McSweeney (R-Barrington) responded immediately, pointing out the governor's past broken promises.

"In 2014, Bruce Rauner promised Illinois taxpayers a tax cut and a 3% income tax rate. Instead, we ended up with a 32% increase in the income tax rate," McSweeney said.  "On April 14th, Governor Rauner promised Illinois citizens he would veto HB 40, which would expand state funding for abortions. I sure hope that Governor Rauner actually keeps this promise."  Click here for more from Illinois Review


Action:

-Contact Governor Rauner, thank him for his promise to VETO HB40.  

-Urge Gov. Rauner to keep his promise and VETO HB 40

Click here to contact Governor Rauner.

Click here for more information on this bill.+

More on House Bill 40...


This bill has the potential to reverse almost every pro-life effort made in Illinois and will protect abortion if regulated, defunded or outlawed federally.

Amends the State Employees Group Insurance Act of 1971.

-Removes a provision prohibiting the non-contributory portion of a program of health-benefits from including the expenses of obtaining an abortion. (If passed, the State Employee's Insurance would cover the expenses of an abortion.).

Amends the Illinois Public Aid Code.

-Removes a provision excluding abortions or induced miscarriages or premature births from the list of services provided under the State's medical assistance program. (If passed, public aid would cover abortions or "induced miscarriages".)

-Removes language providing for the adoption of rules to prohibit a physician from providing medical assistance to anyone eligible for medical assistance benefits if the physician has been found guilty of willfully and wantonly performing an abortion procedure upon a woman who was not pregnant at the time of the procedure. (If passed, a doctor would not be stopped from performing medical services including an abortion even if he/she had been found guilty of performing an unwanted abortion procedure.)

-Removes other provisions concerning abortion restrictions. (If passed, this would remove the requirement for a physician statement the procedure used for an abortion when requesting reimbursement for the abortion, "induced miscarriages" or premature births.  This also removes the need to include the physicians opinion regarding the abortion.)

Amends the Problem Pregnancy Health Services and Care Act.

-Removes language prohibiting the Department of Human Services from making grants to nonprofit agencies and organizations that use such grants to refer or counsel for, or perform, abortions. (If passed, the Department of Human Services would be allowed to provide money or grants to organizations or companies that perform abortions.)

Amends the Illinois Abortion Law of 1975.

-Provides that it is the intention of the General Assembly to reasonably regulate abortion in conformance with the legal standards set forth in the decisions of the United States Supreme Court of January 22, 1973.  (If passed, this would keep abortion legal if the Roe Vs. Wade Decision is reversed)

-Removes language concerning the General Assembly's declaration that the unborn child is a human being from the time of conception and is, therefore, a legal person for purposes of the unborn child's right to life. (If passed, this means that an unborn child would NOT be considered a human being and so the unborn child does NOT have the right to life.) 

Will taxpayers paying be enough for Illinois abortion advocates?

While Governor Rauner tried his best to stay out of the uncomfortable abortion topic, he couldn't avoid it. He's had three bills on his desk making abortion more convenient and accessible since he's been in office.

One pushed private insurers to pay for contraception - which, of course, includes abortifacients that chemically induce abortions. Another forces prolife medical personnel to go against their consciences and provide information about where they can get abortions if they refuse to do them themselves. (That measure is being challenged at the U.S. Supreme Court level).

And now, he's being asked to force taxpayers - both religious and non-religious - to pay for abortions themselves. But it could get even more demanding. Illinois lawmakers are likely to attempt to imitate Oregon - and it could be sooner than anyone expects if the legislature-influencing Personal PAC's Terry Cosgrove is successful.

Click here for more from Illinois Review

Rauner still mum on abortion funding bill

The good news for those that want the Governor to veto a bill that would force taxpayers to pay for low income and state employees' abortions is that the bill hasn't moved to his desk as of Friday.

That means abortion-advocating group Personal PAC's Terry Cosgrove isn't confident the governor will sign it into law.

The bad news is that the Governor refuses to confirm that he's going to stick with his first public comment made in April, and veto HB 40 if it reaches his desk.  Now he's telling reporters he's "assessing" the bill.

Action:

Contact Governor Rauner, thank him for his promise to VETO HB40.  Please affirm that he still intends to do so.

Click here to contact Governor Rauner.

Click here for more information on this bill.

Click here for more from Illinois Review

Illinois Left panics over Graham-Cassidy; ignores state's shrinking insurer numbers

Tossing control of federal health care dollars back to the states is something the Left stands firmly against - and exactly what the Republican U.S. Senate majority's latest attempt at reforming ObamaCare would do.

Illinois' Left had nothing to fear from the state's two elected U.S. Senators. Of course, Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth declared time and time again they had no intention of supporting the effort set forth by GOP senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Illinois native Dr. Bill Cassidy (R-LA).

American Bridge, an Leftist activist group blasted the Graham-Cassidy proposal and explained why the Left is so opposed to it:

    The Graham-Cassidy bill is the worst version of Trumpcare yet. The bill would kick 965,000 Illinoisans off of their health insurance and rob the state of $9.26 billion in federal funding over the next ten years. It ends Medicaid as we know it, guts protections for people with preexisting conditions, and defunds Planned Parenthood. The American Medical Association, AARP, The American Heart Association, and 35 anti-cancer advocacy groups all oppose the bill.

Click here for more from Illinois Review

Vision 2020 - Week 31 - Sen. Sue Rezin (R) and Sen. Chapin Rose (R)

Pray for our legislators...

The name of the Lord is a strong tower; 

the righteous run to it and are protected.

Proverbs 18:10

Vision 2020 and the Illinois Federation for Right to Life would like to invite you to join us in praying for our state legislators.  We will send out information about a couple different state representatives each week for you to pray over.

Consider sharing this information with your ministry partners, your church family, on your website and/or your Facebook page.

We know that prayer changes things.  And we know that NOTHING is impossible with God. So let's join our hearts and voices together and petition heaven on behalf of the great state of Illinois!

Some of our legislators need prayer that God will open their eyes and change their hearts (or move them out of their positions) and some need prayers that they will have the strength, courage and boldness to be able to stand firmly against the opposition as they fight for life and family values.

Planned Parenthood and the ACLU Jeopardize Women's Health

We are told ad nauseam that education empowers women, and that they have a right to know everything and anything about their bodies. We are also told that women have a right to safe medical care, and are entitled to competent service by well-trained physicians.

Then why are feminists working overtime to keep information from women about their bodies? And why are they trying desperately to prevent them from receiving first-class medical care? To be blunt, they are jeopardizing women's health.

Feminists at Planned Parenthood oppose laws that require women seeking an abortion to see pictures of the baby they are planning to abort. This is the one exception to the "education empowers women" mantra.

Planned Parenthood and the ACLU are so zealous about abortion rights that they would sacrifice the lives of pregnant women—to say nothing about their babies—in exchange for increasing the number of abortions. To be exact, they want nurse practitioners and nurse midwives to perform first trimester abortions, thus increasing the pool of abortionists.

Click here for more from Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights via Christian Newswire

Sosnowski: Illinois Families Cannot Afford House Bill 40

On April 25, the Illinois House of Representatives passed the controversial House Bill 40 by a vote of 62-55. This legislation would remove the existing ban on taxpayer-funded abortion in Illinois under the state’s Medicaid program. I voted No.

For 36 years, the State of Illinois has prohibited the use of taxpayer dollars to pay for abortion; except in the cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. This has also been the policy of the federal government since 1975.

The ethics of abortion have been debated across the United States and here in Illinois for decades. While I believe more and more Americans will continue to embrace a culture of life as this debate moves forward, in the meantime, we must address what is at stake with House Bill 40. The issue with this bill is specifically whether taxpayer dollars should be used to pay for elective abortion, meaning termination of a pregnancy for any reason other than rape, incest or to protect the life of the mother.

According to the most recent data from the Illinois Department of Public Health, there are nearly 40,000 abortions performed in the State of Illinois each year. Currently, there are abortions happening under the above referenced exceptions.  House Bill 40 would expand the eligibility for patients covered by the state’s Medicaid program by forcing taxpayers to pay for elective abortions as well. This bill would also add full abortion coverage to state employees’ insurance plans that taxpayers would then have to pay.

The Department of Healthcare and Family Services and a study from the Legislative Reference Bureau approximate that expanding taxpayer-funded abortions could cost the state’s Medicaid program as much as $60 Million.

This is more spending in a time when taxes have been increased in an attempt to pay down some of our burgeoning debt.  We do not need to add extra costs with morally controversial initiatives in a time of our state’s severe debt crisis.

Action:
Contact Governor Rauner, thank him for his promise to VETO HB40.

Please affirm that he still intends to do so.

Click here to contact Governor Rauner.

Click here for more information on this bill.

Click here for more from Illinois Review

Call your U.S. senators and urge them to support the Graham-Cassidy health care reform bill!

Sometime between September 25 and September 30, Republican leaders in the U.S. Senate will make a last-ditch attempt to pass sweeping legislation to repeal and replace the worst elements of Obamacare, and remove federal funds from Planned Parenthood.

National Right to Life strongly supports this legislation, which is known as the Graham-Cassidy Amendment to H.R. 1628. This bill would repeal the worst elements of Obamacare, including a rollback of Obamacare’s federal subsidies to health plans that pay for elective abortion. The bill would also block most federal funding for Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider.

A razer-close vote is expected. Indeed, the bill may pass or fail by a single vote.

Click here to enter your zip code into the “Call Now” box. You will then be shown the appropriate phone number to reach the office of one of your two U.S. senators, along with short talking points that you can refer to when the senator’s staff person answers. After you finish delivering your short message in favor of the Graham-Cassidy Amendment, you’ll have the option to send National Right to Life a short “feedback” report about your call. You will then be shown the phone number for your second U.S. senator, and will repeat the process. Both calls can be placed in a matter of a few minutes.

Please act today! Under Senate rules, the deadline for this bill to pass or die is September 30. This is the last chance this year, and probably for years to come, to replace Obamacare and defund Planned Parenthood!

Pro-lifers 'socking it' to members of Congress

Students for Life has launched its "Sockit2PP Truck Tour." Executive director Kristan Hawkins says they will be busy selling the idea in key states.

"We're going to be touring the country with baby socks this fall, demanding that Congress uphold their promises to defund Planned Parenthood," she explains. "We have purchased a truck [and] stuffed it with 328,348 baby socks – every single sock representing one child who will be aborted this year by Planned Parenthood, which we fund with our tax dollars."

The campaign kicked off this week in Washington, DC, with subsequent stops planned in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia – and ending up back in the nation's capital again on Saturday, September 23. The group hopes to impress upon U.S. senators representing those states the need to strip the abortion-provider of federal funding. After the tour, the socks will be divided as they head to 90 college campuses this fall.

Click here for more from OneNewsNow

VIDEO: Pritzker "stands up" for abortion in new ad while Rauner continues to hide

Chicago businessman J.B. Pritzker is not avoiding a discussion about social issues in his campaign for governor. Unlike Republican Bruce Rauner during his 2014 bid, Democrat Pritzker is leading with a charge to "stand up" for mothers' rights to end the lives of their unborn babies.

"HB 40 will be the first law I sign in office," Pritzker says in the ad.

Governor Rauner said in April he would veto a bill that would push Illinois deeper into embracing abortion by using taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions for those expectant mothers covered by Medicaid health insurance or state employee plans.

Now he's not saying anything about what he plans to do when HB 40 comes to his desk.

The new ad:



Click here for more from Illinois Review

National Right to Life Supports Graham-Cassidy Legislation

National Right to Life Committee, the nationwide federation of state right-to-life organizations, supports legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare sponsored by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.). Time is running short as Republicans have less than two weeks left to use their 2017 budget reconciliation bill as a vehicle to undo much of Obamacare which requires a simple majority in the Senate.

Abortion is not healthcare, and the Senate has the chance to protect life by advancing this legislation.

NRLC vigorously opposed enactment of the Obamacare law in 2009-2010, because of its multiple provisions authorizing federal subsidies for abortion insurance and multiple provisions allowing abortion-expansive federal mandates. According to a report issued by the Government Accountability Office in September 2014, approximately 1,000 federally subsidized health plans nationwide currently cover elective abortion.

The Graham-Cassidy legislation would redirect existing Obamacare subsidies back to states in the form of block grants. The bill would prohibit the use of these dollars for plans that cover elective abortion. The Graham-Cassidy bill would restore the longstanding principles of the Hyde Amendment with respect to federally funded health coverage. The Hyde Amendment is crediting with saving two million lives.

Additionally, National Right to Life also strongly supports the language in the bill that would block, for one year, most federal payments to affiliates of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Over one-third of all abortions in the U.S. are performed at PPFA-affiliated facilities.

Click here for more from National Right to Life

GOP to DOJ: Prosecute baby parts sellers

After reviewing and investigating David Daleiden's undercover investigation, the House Select Committee on Infant Lives has turned over its findings to the Department of Justice, calling for criminal prosecution.

U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) is one of 18 members who signed a letter calling on the DOJ to prosecute Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast.

"These are backroom deals that have been made to transfer and sell the body parts of unborn babies,” Johnson tells OneNewsNow. "It's not only shocking, it's clearly illegal — and we have to do everything in our power to stop this practice and protect the sanctity of every single human life.”

Click here for more from OneNewsNow

Abortion clinics in 375 cities are about to be targeted with 40 days of continuous prayer

40 Days for Life begins its next global campaign of prayer, fasting, and around-the-clock vigil at abortion clinics September 27th, and finishes on November 5th. During this time, thousands of pro-lifers will visit abortion clinics for a time of concentrated, peaceful prayer.

Campaign organizers say this year’s event is expected to be the largest gathering of pro-life intercessors since the vigil began in 2004.

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews

Gov's office ignores requests confirming he will veto "free abortions" bill

Governor Rauner is not saying what he plans to do with HB 40. In April, his office assured social conservatives that he would veto a bill making abortions free in Illinois to expectant mothers on Medicaid and paid for by taxpayers.

"Governor Rauner does not support HB 40 and will veto the bill if it reaches his desk," then-spokesperson Allie Bovis wrote in an email.

Things have evidently changed.

Abortion supporters such as Personal PAC's Terry Cosgrove say that even though the state House and Senate passed the measure back in May, they will not send it to the governor's desk unless they know for sure the governor will sign it into law.

Every day that move is delayed leaves less time for a potential GOP primary challenger to organize social conservatives to challenge the Republican governor, which may be why Governor Rauner is ignoring requests to confirm his position on HB 40.

Click here for more from Illinois Review

European Parliament Classifies Laws against Abortion as “violence against women and girls”

The European Parliament (EP) took shocking and disturbing action last week when it adopted a parliamentary report which charges “the denial of sexual and reproductive health and rights services, including safe and legal abortion, is a form of violence against women and girls.” The vote was 489 in favor, 114 opposed, and 69 abstentions.

The shocking vote by a legislative body that is supposed to respect sovereignty on abortion, and includes lawmakers from countries with pro-life policies, occurred during endorsement of the European Union’s accession to the Istanbul Convention— the Council of Europe’s treaty to prevent and combat violence against women and girls.

The actual text of the Convention opposes “performing an abortion on a woman without her prior and informed consent”–the only mention of abortion in the treaty.

This fact, however, did not prevent two committees in the European Parliament- -Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) and Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM)–from issuing an appalling condemnation of laws against abortion and equating lack of legal access to abortion with violence against women and girls.

Left out of the report is any recognition or condemnation of sex selection abortion–the first act of violence in the life cycle that targets unborn baby girls for elimination simply because they are female.

Click here for more from National Right to Life

Pro-life activists across North America will share ugly truth about abortion in annual Life Chain

Last year, thousands took part in 25,000 Life Chains in 1,600 cities and towns across Canada and the U.S.  October 1 is Life Chain Sunday, and the 30th anniversary of this unique annual pro-life witness.

The National Right to Life Committee calculated that 59,115,995 babies have been killed by abortion since the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v Wade decision legalizing abortion in the United States. NRLC estimated that 926,000 babies were killed in utero in the U.S. in 2015 to 2016.




Royce Dunn, national director of National Life Chain Sunday 2017 stated, “We’re trusting that National Life Sunday 2017 will proved a strong witness on the sidewalks of America and Canada.”

Click here for more on the Life Chain

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews

Pop star rips Planned Parenthood, Hollywood elites for pushing abortion

In a recent interview with MRC Culture, Kaya Jones of the Pussycat Dolls described Hollywood’s push of abortion as showing “how evil our world has become.” Besides telling her own fight against Planned Parenthood, she revealed other personal stories about what happens when young women in the entertainment industry refuse abortion.

From 2003 to 2004, Kaya served as one of the lead singers for the Pussycat Dolls, a popular girl group that sold more than 15 million albums and 40 million singles. A supporter of President Trump and the military, Kaya made headlines last month for her tribute to the armed forces with her new song, “What the Heart Don’t Know.”

Click here for more from LifeSiteNews

'Undeniable': Hostility toward free religious exercise in U.S.

For the last five years, First Liberty Institute has compiled in a report all the known religious liberty violations in the U.S. First Liberty attorney Jeremy Dys tells OneNewsNow it's the most comprehensive survey of its kind, 418 pages documenting 1,400 real-life stories of attacks on religious liberty across America.
 CASE IN POINT: City wrong to block Bible-believing farmer from local market Read more...

"This year's survey represents a 15-percent increase in just the past year," Dys explains, "and an alarming 133-percent increase ... since we started tracking and publishing this survey in 2012."

Click here for more from OneNewsNow