Illinois lawmakers are pushing abortions to the extreme with yet another law to repeal the state parental notification requirement.
State lawmakers passed a radical pro-abortion law in May to legalize abortions for any reason up to birth, ignoring massive protests. The law declares abortion to be a “fundamental right” and prevents the state from interfering in any way with the killing of unborn babies. It erases criminal penalties for performing abortions and allows non-doctors to do them. It repeals the partial-birth abortion ban, abortion clinic regulations and conscience protections for medical workers as well.
But the law did not go far enough for state Rep. Emanuel Welch, a pro-abortion Democrat, Town Hall reports.
His bill, state House Bill 2467, would repeal the Illinois Parental Notification of Abortion Act. The law requires that an abortion provider notify a parent, grandparent or legal guardian of a minor 48 hours prior to her abortion. It does not require the parent to consent, just to be notified.
“I’m going to try to get this repeal bill done in veto session [in October] if we can. If not, I’m certainly going to go back at it in January,” Welch said.
Abortion activists at the ACLU praised Welch, saying, “We need to trust youth in our state to make the health care decisions, without forcing them to risk their health and safety,” according to the report.
A repeal would be “disastrous” for the safety of young girls, according to Illinois Right to Life.
Click Like if you are pro-life to like the LifeNews Facebook page!
Mary Kate Knorr, spokeswoman for Illinois Right to Life Action, told Capitol News Illinois that parental notice can be a “checkpoint” for human trafficking and abuse situations.
“If this law were repealed, an abuser could take a young girl to a clinic for an abortion without her family even knowing,” the pro-life organization warned. “This law is purely common sense, enacted as to be a safeguard for young, vulnerable girls.”
The organization also pointed to statistics showing that abortions dropped significantly among minors in Illinois after the parental notification law went into effect.
Catholic leaders in the state also expressed strong concerns about the measure. According to the Catholic News Service:
Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, in an interview with CNA in June at the U.S. bishops’ annual spring meeting, warned that after the state legislature passed the Reproductive Health Act, more pro-abortion legislation would be coming including a rollback of parental notifications.
The bishop said that once abortion is recognized as a “fundamental right,” then the question will be asked “how do you deny somebody’s fundamental right?”
Interestingly, Illinois bans minors under 18 from using tanning beds, donating blood or getting tattoos without a parent’s permission. If Welch’s bill passes, though, it may allow a girl as young as 12 to abort her unborn baby without even her parent’s knowledge.
Parental involvement laws have strong public support, and 37 states currently require it in some form before a minor aborts her unborn baby. A 2011 Gallup poll found 71 percent of Americans favor laws requiring parents’ involvement in a minor’s abortion decision.
Research shows that these laws help save unborn babies from abortions.
ACTION: Contact Illinois lawmakers to oppose the bill.
