Disappointing news from Springfield

You may recall a post sometime back in which I noted that Illinois State Representative David Reis (R) introduced House Resolution 417 which we remove State funding to Planned Parenthood of $5 million each year.

Yesterday I received a letter from Representative Reis (pronounced Rice) dated June 4th. He writes:

I am pleased to inform you that, although there is still much work to be done in Springfield regarding our budget, the House was successful in preventing the abortion expansion bill, HB 2354 - otherwise misleadingly referred to as teh Reproductive Health and Access Act - from passing during this year's General Assembly Spring Session.

Thanks to vocal opposition from mindful citizens such as you, this legislation never garnered enough support to be called to a vote. In addition, reacting to th fiscal crisis that the democrats have placed in our state in, I filed House Resolution 417 asking the General Assembly to cease its funding of Planned Parenthood abortion clinics in Illinois which have received over $25 million from the state over the last five years.

While this resolution was blockd by the sponsor of HB 2354, majority leader Barbara Flynn Currie, I believe it sent a strong message that we should not and can not [sic] support immoral operations such as this while our friends and neighbors in need are being denied services. I am also continuing to fight to implement more stringent parental notification requirements that were passed in a 1995 bill but have since been stalled on technicalities....

Keep up the good work, Mr. Reis!

Good news

Illinois House Bill 2354 - the Reproductive Health and Access Act - was not brought to a vote yesterday, the last day for the General Assembly to consider the bill.

Let us give thanks to God for this victory, and ask his continued blessings for the cause of the unborn, and every person, that the dignity of all people be recognized and safeguarded in law, both in our state and in our nation.

HB 2354

Help stop Illinois House Bill 2354 by visiting Stop Illinois FOCA.

Bishop Lucas on Illinois HB 2354

A few days ago, one of our readers, Jake, suggested we find a new name for Illinois House Bill 2354 other than the Illinois version of the Freedom of Choice Act.

It seems HB 2354 does have a different name: the Reproductive Health and Access Act.

We received this afternoon a letter from His Excellency, Bishop Lucas, asking the faithful to urge their representatives to oppose the bill. He requested that his letter be copied and inserted into the bulletins of his parishes this weekend.

We are working on that here in the office and I thought I would post the text of the letter for you, with my emphases:

Dear Friends in Christ,

I write to you about a serious threat to our freedom to practice our Catholic faith in the state of Illinois.

A bill has been introduced in the Illinois General Assembly (HB 2354, the "Reproductive Health and Access Act") that would remove the right to conscientious objection to abortion and related procedures for all health care workers. For thirty years we have been told by the courts and by legislators that abortion is a rare but necessary tragedy and that abortion providers should not face legal punishment. Now some are proposing that abortion is a human right, and worse, that those who would try to qualify it in any way or who will not provide it should be punished under law.

This proposed law will drive Catholic doctors and nurses from health care and will make it impossible for Catholic hospitals to continue to be places where life is always respected, where no one is deliberately killed. In our country, we recognize conscientious objection to war, even though defending one’s country is a noble and moral act. We recognize the conscientious objection of those doctors who will not cooperate in administering the death penalty, even for terrible crimes. Some Illinois legislators want to take away conscientious objection to abortion.

The enemies of human life and religious freedom in Illinois are well funded. Pressure on legislators is great and is increasing. I ask you to contact your Representative this week to express your dismay that the Illinois legislature, elected democratically, would debate a bill that removes freedom of conscientious decision-making for health care workers as a condition of their employment. Surely people of good will can agree that the State should not come between a health care worker and God.

Unfortunately we have had to live with the fact that our laws no longer protect unborn human life. We cannot live with the prospect that our laws will no longer protect conscience. In 1844, Abraham Lincoln broke with his own party, the often anti-Catholic Whigs, and proposed: "Resolved, that the guarantee of the rights of conscience, as found in our Constitution, is most sacred and inviolable, and one that belongs no less to the Catholic, than to the Protestant; and that all attempts to abridge or interfere with these rights, either of Catholic or Protestant, directly or indirectly, have our decided disapprobation, and shall ever have our most effective opposition." Illinois HB 2354 betrays the legacy of Lincoln in his home State.
Catholics and all people of good will should work to ensure its defeat. I also ask you to thank those legislators who are courageously opposing HB 2354 and to pray for those who are supporting it. To contact your legislator, please go to www.ilga.gov, or call 312-368-1066.

Sincerely in Christ,

Most Reverend George J. Lucas

Thank you, Bishop Lucas!