Litchfield…Assistant House Minority Leader Avery Bourne (R-Raymond) held a press conference in the Capitol Blue Room Tuesday to inform Illinoisans about two extreme abortion bills that are making their way through the General Assembly. The bills, House Bill 2495 and 2467, are abortion expansion bills that will make Illinois an outlier in the nation on abortion, and will repeal many of the current restrictions on abortions.
Representative Bourne stated, “This package of bills will expand abortions and deregulate the abortion industry. Not only would these bills allow for elective abortions for viable babies in the third trimester, these bills also require all insurance plans to cover all abortions for free, they remove all rights for unborn babies, and will remove all existing licensing for abortion facilities meaning that abortions will no longer have to be provided by doctors in a medical facility.” She added, “I was so heartened to join a crowd of over 4,000 people at the Capitol today who voiced their opposition to these bills and stood up for life.”
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If passed, House Bill 2495, part of the "Reproductive Health Act", would require all private health insurance companies in the state to provide coverage for abortions, with no exceptions for churches or other religious organizations. It would also remove restrictions on where abortions can be performed and who can perform them, adding non-physicians to the list of providers. Additionally, the law would remove any statute protecting the life of a child who is born alive as a result of a late-term abortion.
The second bill of the Act, House Bill 2467, was introduced to nullify Illinois' 1995 "Parental Notice of Abortion Act," a law that mandates that a parent or legal guardian must be notified, not consent to, but be informed of a minors plan to abort. Under current law, any minor does, however, have the legal right to request a waiver of parental notice, a process called judicial bypass, which is granted by a judge.
The latest information from the Illinois Department of Public Health shows that 39,329 abortions were performed here in 2017. Under this package of bills, we would no longer have public reporting of abortions performed in the state of Illinois. This change would not allow policy makers to make informed decisions when debating policies to reduce the numbers of abortions or unplanned pregnancies.
The pro-life rally held at the Capitol on Tuesday attracted so many advocates that the fire marshal had to close the doors and not allow admittance because the Capitol was overcapacity.
