Freedom Of Choice Act introduced in Illinois again!
HOUSE BILL 6205 - The so-called Reproductive Health and Access Act (disguised Freedom Of Choice Act - FOCA) has been introduced in Illinois.
This bill will STOP the Parental Notice of Abortion Law and Greatly Expand Taxpayer Funding in Millions of Dollars for Abortions and much more!
Remember, this bill is just another version of HB 2354 from last year's FOCA bill. Pro-Lifers strongly opposed and stopped that bill last year!
Click here to contact your Representatives, urge them to vote NO on HB 6205!
What HB 6205 Will Do...
HB 6205 WILL “GUT” THE ILLINOIS PARENTAL NOTICE OF ABORTION ACT
HB 6205 will establish a “fundamental right” to abortion more restrictive than Roe v. Wade. The bill would “gut” the Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act so that no parental notice will be allowed, because under HB 6205, notice would be considered to “interfere with a pregnant woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy.” [Section 15 (a)(3)] This is regardless of age!
Trying to hide this fact, HB 6205 says it is not meant to repeal the Parental Notice of Abortion Act. However, you don’t have to be a seasoned legislator to know that often a statute is amended by a bill that substantially changes and alters the statute without repealing it. HB 6205 clearly says in Section 15, and in a number of other sections, “Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act or any other law to the contrary” which all legislators should know means that the section “trumps” any existing part of the Act and any other statute enacted before the Act.
The language purports to allow for regulation after viability but the too broad “health” exception undermines even that. In Doe v. Bolton, the U.S. Supreme Court companion decision with Roe v. Wade, “health’ was to be considered in “light of all factors – physical, emotional, psychological, familial and the woman’s age”, in other words, abortions must be allowed for virtually any reason throughout the full nine months of pregnancy!
TAXPAYER FUNDING OF ABORTIONS UNDER MEDICAID AND STATE EMPLOYEE HEALTH POLICIES MUST PAY FOR ALL ABORTIONS FOR ANY REASON.
Illinois’s ban on taxpayer funded abortions was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1980. Before the ban, Illinois paid for 12,738 abortions [1977-1978 fiscal year], as opposed to a few hundred today. Under Section 20 in HB 6205, this bill will force taxpayers to pay for abortions for any reason! At a Medicaid rate of around $180 per abortion, that would cost the State of Illinois about $2.3 million.
Section 20 “Non-discrimination in funding.” states “Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act or any other law to the contrary, the State shall ensure that individuals eligible for State Medicaid assistance, or other State medical assistance, receive financial assistance for reproductive healthcare at least to the same extent as other comparable services.”
Additionally, “reproductive health care” is undefined in the bill but can be presumed to include abortion, Plan B, and the morning after pill, even sterilizations for all ages.
HB 6205 MANDATES ALL PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO OFFER “COMPREHENSIVE SEX EDUCATION PROGRAMS”
MOST OF WHICH PROMOTE AND FOSTER CONDOM TRAINING AND ABORTION FOR STUDENTS AS YOUNG AS NINE YEARS OLD!
Section 30 “Sexual health education.” states “Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act or any other law, ALL Illinois public schools shall offer medically accurate, age appropriate, comprehensive sexual health education as a part of the Comprehensive Health Education Program…”
No longer would local school districts be able to determine their curriculums in this area; every public school student in the state would have to be enrolled in “comprehensive” sex education. What proponents of “comprehensive sex education’ consider “age appropriate” is not what most of us would consider so!
Additionally, HB 6205 removes, under the State’s “Comprehensive Health Education Program” the long-standing public policy of Illinois in teaching that “sexual abstinence until marriage” should be taught to our children in schools.
For these reasons please urge your Illinois House Representative to Vote NO on HB 6205 now!
Contact Information...
Click here to contact your Representatives NOW
Click here to view the HB 6205 Fact Sheet
Illinois Federation for Right to Life
2600 State Street, Ste E
Alton, IL 62002
Phone: 618-466-4122
Web: http://www.ifrl.org
E-mail: mail@ifrl.org
