Updated on August 2
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| photo credit: Keith Ewing / Flickr |
Parental Notice of Abortion Repeal
HB 1797, which aims to repeal the Parental Notifice of Abortion Act, is currently sitting in the House Rules Committee. It could still be called in the fall veto session if pro-abortion legislators wanted to force it through.
The REACH Act
HB 1736 and SB 2762 are Planned Parenthood-supported bills called the REACH Act. The bills would require public schools to provide "unbiased" and "non-stigmatizing" information about pregnancy options, including parenting, adoption, and abortion. These bills are currently sitting in the House Rules Committee and the Senate Assignment Committee respectively. They could potentially be called during the fall veto session.
Pro-life Bills
Five pro-life bills are also sitting in the House Rules Committee, and they could potentially be called during the fall veto session.
- The Ultrasound Opportunity Act (HB 683) would require abortionists to give women seeking abortions the opportunity to view a live ultrasound of their unborn babies beforehand.
- The Born Alive Infant Protection Act (HB 338) declares that a child born alive as the result of a failed abortion attempt be fully recognized as a human person and accorded immediate protection under the law.
- HB 783 would repeal legislation requiring taxpayer funding of abortion.
- HB 791 would amend the 2019 Reproductive Health Act to prohibit abortion after 20 weeks except in the case of a medical emergency.
- The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act (HB 827) would hold abortionists criminally guilty of a Class 4 felony if they complete a partial-birth abortion that isn't medically necessary. It would also allow grandparents to sue abortionists for completing a partial-birth abortion on their daughter if she is a minor, and the grandparents did not consent to the abortion. Pregnant mothers would never be held criminally responsible for partial-birth abortions under this act.
SB 109, which amended the Health Care Surrogate Act so that a witness is no longer required to sign the Practitioner Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) form, was signed into law by Gov. Pritzker on July 23, 2021. It is now Public Act 102-0140.
The POLST form was used when a patient was deciding what kinds of treatments they would approve if they become unable to make decisions. SB 109 also allows a national POLST form to be used instead of the Illinois POLST form. That form similarly does not require a signature from a witness.