Illinois lawmakers are pushing forward with a bill to declare abortion a “fundamental right” despite growing protests against the radical legislation.
The state Reproductive Health Act (House Bill 2495) is even more extreme than the pro-abortion law passed in New York in January, according to National Review.
If it passes, it would establish “the fundamental rights of individuals to make autonomous decisions about one’s own reproductive health [including] to have an abortion.” This means without restriction, for any reason up to birth in Illinois.
It would allow non-doctors to abort unborn babies, and would strip away conscience protections for medical professionals who oppose abortion. Private health insurance plans would be required to cover abortions, and the already very limited safety regulations related to abortion in Illinois would be repealed if the bill passes.
A second pro-abortion bill would repeal the state parental notification law that requires girls under 18 to notify a parent prior to aborting her unborn child.
Here’s more from the report:
Though the bill in its totality reveals the internal logic of the abortion-rights movement, perhaps the starkest single example is the RHA’s erasure of a current law that requires doctors to use the abortion method “most likely to preserve the life and health of the fetus,” without causing greater risk to the mother’s life or health. The bill also scraps a requirement that a second physician attend every post-viability abortion procedure to care for an infant should it be born alive.
Eliminating these provisions has nothing to do with protecting women’s rights. Instead, it has to do with ensuring that every abortion accomplishes its obvious aim: the death of an unwanted child.
Pro-abortion lawmakers have been misleading their constituents about the bill. State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, one of the sponsors, claimed it simply would strip unenforceable abortion restrictions from state law.
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“At its most basic level, that’s what this bill does,” she said, previously. “It makes it clear that this is a healthcare procedure. It’s about patient care and access. It’s just that simple.”
News outlets predict the legislation will pass with Gov. J.B. Pritzker supporting it and pro-abortion Democrats in control of both state houses.
But constituents’ outrage over the extreme abortion expansion is growing. Last week, so many Illinoisans crowded into the state capitol in protest of the bill that police had to shut down the building temporarily. According to Illinois Right to Life Action, more than 10,000 people also have filed witness slips against the legislation – the strongest opposition that pro-life lobbyist Ralph Rivera said he has ever seen.
Polls show that the public does not support such radical proposals. A recent national poll by Marist University found that three in four Americans (75 percent) say abortion should be limited to – at most – the first three months of pregnancy. This includes most Republicans (92 percent), Independents (78 percent) and Democrats (60 percent).
The bills are pending in the 101st General Assembly as House Bills 2467 & 2495 and Senate Bills 1594 & 1942. The Thomas More Society detailed analysis can be found here.
ACTION: Contact Illinois lawmakers to oppose the bill.
