Friday morning, Illinois Family Institute (IFI) was unpleasantly greeted with JB Pritzker’s deceitful, divisive, anti-Christian screed—er, press release—that uses IFI to besmirch his gubernatorial opponent, the exceptional Darren Bailey. Through this screed/press release Pritzker unwittingly besmirched every conservative Illinoisan—including theologically orthodox Catholics, Protestants, Eastern Orthodox, Orthodox Jews, and Muslims.

For those who haven’t yet read Pritzker’s poisonous press release—in which he glowingly and oxymoronically refers to a “family-friendly drag show”—please allow me to take you on a brief guided tour.

It began like this:

After confessing to his deeply-rooted belief that victims of rape or incest should be forced to carry their pregnancy to term, Darren Bailey’s campaign now plans to attend a fundraiser with a radically anti-choice, anti-LGBTQ+ hate group. The Illinois Family Institute has a long history of opposing reproductive rights, marriage equality, and peddling dangerous anti-trans conspiracy theories.

Darren Bailey along with thousands of people all across the nation hold the deeply rooted belief that the product of conception between two humans is a human and as such has the right not to be exterminated—not even if conceived in the commission of a heinous crime. The good end of alleviating suffering does not justify the means of killing innocent humans.

IFI does not oppose “reproductive rights.” Rather, IFI doesn’t believe “reproductive rights” are absolute rights that include the right of powerful humans to exterminate weaker humans. We believe that when the right to control one’s reproduction comes into direct conflict with the right of another human merely to exist, the right to exist is a right of a higher moral order.

The number of people who hold these views would likely be much higher if not for the unconstitutional Roe v. Wade decision and the subsequent ideological pummeling that two generations of Americans have endured. Laws teach. In addition, our government school system controlled by leftists has been indoctrinating children with leftist views on sexuality for decades. And our myth-making machinery (i.e., the industrial entertainment complex) controlled by leftists has been propagandizing for libertinism and hedonism for even longer.

IFI’s position on the intrinsic worth of incipient human life can only be deemed “radical” by radicals in thrall to the radical belief that humans in their mothers’ wombs have no worth. The radical views of radicals like Pritzker have no objective standards regarding—well, anything. That is why they have now abandoned their prior view that abortion should be “safe, legal, and rare.” Now they embrace the view that it is morally defensible to kill a human up to the moment of her birth for any or no reason, and that Americans should be forced to pay for the execution. That’s the radical view of the radical Pritzker.

Next came Pritzker’s gripe that IFI opposes “marriage equality,” which is more linguistic gimcrackery. In plain English, IFI believes that marriage has a nature that government merely recognizes and regulates but does not create. And the central constituent feature is sexual differentiation. Leftists decided to jettison in law the most enduring, cross-cultural feature of marriage—sexual differentiation—while retaining all the others.

Does Pritzker believe that those who oppose the legalization of polyandrous, polygynous, and polyamorous marriages are opposed to “marriage equality”? Does he believe those who oppose the legalization of incestuous marriage are opposed to “marriage equality”? Does he believe those who oppose the legalization of marriage between adults and minors are opposed to “marriage equality”?

Let’s move on now to Pritzker’s tiresome, specious, and ugly allegation that IFI is an “anti-LGBTQ+” hate group.

First, Pritzker engages in some tricksy rhetorical maneuvering. He has redefined “hate” without providing his spanking new definition, and he conflates strong opposition to ideas with hatred of persons.

For cynical political utility, leftists like Pritzker call moral and ontological beliefs they detest “hate.” And they falsely claim that expressing disapproval of beliefs and volitional acts that leftists embrace constitutes hatred (i.e., detestation) of persons who embrace those beliefs and acts.

Does Pritzker apply his definition of “hate” consistently? Does he hate all IFI employees and all other Illinoisans who share the same views as IFI on the rights of the unborn, marriage, homosexuality, and cross-sex identification?

Maybe Pritzker detests people who embrace beliefs and ideas he rejects, but most people are fully capable of loving and delighting in the company of people who hold different beliefs and create lives based on those beliefs. In fact, most of us do it every day with friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues.

What a sad life Pritzker must live if he hates everyone who disagrees with his moral views. What a danger he is to the Republic if he is in a position to implement policies based on his hatred of conservatives.

Methinks leftists proclaim too much about their love of diversity and commitment to tolerance.

Second, from the link provided in his press screed, we learn that Pritzker gets his information about “hate groups” from the virulently hateful, anti-Christian Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which shares Pritzker’s penchant for prevarication. For those interested in the true story of IFI’s interactions with the deceitful SPLC, click HERE.

IFI is baffled about Prevaricating Pritzker’s curious and unsubstantiated claim about IFI “peddling dangerous anti-trans conspiracy theories.” We understand that the word “conspiracy” is an effective dog-whistle that beckons obedient leftists, but we would still like to know to what “anti-trans conspiracies” Pritzker is referring.

Is one of the alleged “anti-trans conspiracy theories” our claim that the deep-pocketed Pritzkers are funding the transnational pro-“trans” movement? If so, that’s not a conspiracy, and it’s not held by IFI alone.

New York City investigative journalist Jennifer Bilek has written a superb exposé of the creepy Pritzker family’s efforts to advance the “trans”-cultic metaphysical nonsense that is destroying bodies, hearts, minds, and families—an exposé that everyone should read.

Or perhaps the family-unfriendly Pritzker is referring to our criticism of his cross-dressing cousin, James Nicholas Pritzker (aka “Jennifer”), a former Republican who publicly threatened the GOP that he would take his deep frock-pockets and flounce home if the GOP didn’t adopt leftist positions on sexuality. But that’s not a conspiracy theory. He really did that.

Or perhaps Pritzker’s reference to “anti-trans conspiracy theories” is about IFI’s (and countless other people’s) claims that leftists are ideologically grooming children to embrace “trans”-cultic beliefs. If that’s what he calls a conspiracy theory, he doesn’t read nearly enough.

Pritzker knows that Illinois has passed laws mandating that teachers present material embedded with “trans”-cultic beliefs to children starting in kindergarten. And he himself created a task force composed of leftists to tell schools how to implement “trans”-cultic beliefs in policies, practices, and curricula. Maybe he should spend some time watching the hair-raising videos posted on Libs of TikTok in which public school teachers boast about their efforts to indoctrinate young children with “trans”-cultic beliefs.

But IFI doesn’t know what he’s talking about because he provided no evidence, and as of this writing, his campaign has not responded to our question about their allegation.

The press release from hell also included this peculiar criticism:

Bailey and his running mate, Stephanie Trussell, have repeatedly used social media to disparage the LGBTQ+ community. He denigrated transgender individuals, writing, “When a young girl decides she is too fat and develops an eating disorder, we get her psychological help. When a young girl decides she is a boy, we adjust reality to fit her desires.”

Demonstrating the wildly different ways we treat children with delusional beliefs about their weight as opposed to those with delusional beliefs about their sex does not denigrate children with gender dysphoria. It respects both reality and children’s beautiful embodiment as boys or girls. Tragically, leftists like Pritzker believe it’s loving to facilitate bodily mutilation and hateful to help children accept their bodies.

Pritzker’s anti-Christian hatred is revealed in this sentence from his press release:

Bailey has also stated that he “believe[s] in biblical marriage between a man and a woman.”

That’s it. Christian friends, remember this when you vote. In Pritzker’s view no one who believes in biblical marriage between a man and a woman is fit for elected office. Sounds remarkably like Pritzker supports an unconstitutional religious test for holding office.

Through his press release, Pritzker does what leftists have been doing for decades, and it’s a two-fer strategy: 1. Libel and malign organizations that speak politically incorrect truth boldly (that would be IFI in this case), 2. Associate conservative threats (that would be Bailey in this case) to leftist power with those organizations, thereby taking out both.

What leftists like Pritzker assume is that conservatives will continue to be intimidated by leftist name-calling. What leftists like Pritzker don’t expect is that one day conservatives will cease to care about being stigmatized and rejected by the name-calling cool kids. Leftists don’t expect conservatives to heed the words of Martin Luther King Jr. who urged those who embraced truth to refuse to be intimidated:

There was a time when the church was very powerful. It was during that period that the early Christians rejoiced when they were deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was the thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Wherever the early Christians entered a town the power structure got disturbed and immediately sought to convict them for being “disturbers of the peace” and “outside agitators.” But they went on with the conviction that they were “a colony of heaven” and had to obey God rather than man. They were small in number but big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be “astronomically intimidated.” They brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contest.

If leftist assumptions about incipient human life, abortion, marriage, homosexuality, and cross-sex identification are false—and they’re inarguably not objective or fact-based—then opposing them is good and right. In order to know what a loving act is as opposed to a hateful act, we first need to know what is true. All adults should understand that those who embrace lies will always hate hearing truth and hate those speaking it.

State Representative Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) is fighting mad. Why? Because Texas lawmakers had the audacity to pass a law to protect tiny humans with heartbeats from being killed. Cassidy does not believe in states’ rights. Like all other “progressives,” Cassidy is an arrogant totalitarian who believes the entire world must think like her and subsidize the dissemination of her beliefs. And when Cassidy gets mad, she gets even.

On September 14, Cassidy filed a bill in response to the Texas Heartbeat Act. Her bill (HB 4146) is titled the “TExAS Act-The Expanding Abortion Services Act.” Get it? Cassidy has the emotional and moral maturity of an adolescent.

While this bill addresses pregnancies resulting from “sexual assault” and “domestic abuse,” it goes further. If passed it would make it possible for any man in a consensual sexual relationship—including a marital relationship—that results in an “unintended” pregnancy to be sued civilly:

Any person, other than an officer or employee of the State or a unit of local government, may bring a civil action against any person who … causes a person to have an unintended pregnancy, regardless of circumstances; or … intends to engage in the act or conduct [that causes a person to have an unintended pregnancy, regardless of circumstances]. 

In other words, if passed, any woman may sue any man—including her husband—for impregnating her, even if the sex were consensual. This is retribution for Texans passing a law that the tyrannical Cassidy hates.

It gets worse. In an especially cunning act of vindictiveness, Cassidy and her fourteen feticidal collaborators want any man found guilty of impregnating a woman to be forced to pay at least $10,000, $5,000 of which will go into a state fund to pay the costs of abortions for “pregnant persons”—also known as women to reality-tethered people—who come from states that prohibit human slaughter to Illinois to have their offspring offed:

If the plaintiff prevails in an action brought under this Section, the court shall award injunctive relief sufficient to prevent the defendant from … causing an unintended pregnancy [and] statutory damages in an amount of not less than $10,000 for each act … that causes an unintended pregnancy the defendant committed or aided or abetted, of which not less than $5,000 shall be awarded to the plaintiff and $5,000 shall be placed in a special fund in the State treasury, known as the State Abortion Freedom Expansion Fund, to be used by the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, to pay the costs of abortions for pregnant persons who travel to Illinois from states that prohibit abortions for the purpose of obtaining access to abortions in Illinois; and costs and attorney’s fees.

It’s an especially grievous kind of moral blindness that leads a woman to be as obsessed with the idea that women have a right to kill their children as Cassidy is. Her law punishes men for having consensual sex with women that results in “unintended” pregnancy. This would include women who lie, telling their husbands, significant others, paramours, and one-night stands that they are using contraceptives.

Maybe Cassidy et al. were inspired by Bette Midler who was so enraged that Texans don’t want incipient human lives destroyed that she tweeted,

I suggest that all women refuse to have sex with men until they are guaranteed the right to choose by Congress.

Cassidy’s vindictive plan is a variation on Midler’s plan to punish men for the heartbeat law in Texas. Cassidy’s plan seeks to penalize Illinois men for the decision of Texas lawmakers. Nothing will stop Cassidy from trying to force everyone to submit to the goddesses of the Cult of Child Sacrifice.

Here’s an idea: How about all those empowered, capable, glass-ceiling-smashing women running around in childish pink hats take control of their reproduction—not by ordering the killing of their children—but by not having sex or by responsibly using contraception that they pay for.

Just wondering, does the possibility of winning $5,000 or more provide incentive for women to get “unintentionally” pregnant? And exactly how will women prove they didn’t intend to get pregnant?

As reported by NPR, Cassidy made this nonsensical statement:

If folks are policing the bodies of people who are seeking reproductive healthcare in Texas, well, then maybe we should be policing the bodies of the people who are causing those problems here in Illinois.

Again for the obtuse and anti-science, opponents of abortion are concerned about the bodies of the voiceless and vulnerable whom Cassidy sees as disposable. And destroying living humans is not “healthcare.”

If you don’t already believe the human heart is desperately wicked, Cassidy, who is faux-married to Newt Gingrich’s lesbian activist half-sister Candace Gingrich, offers all the proof you need.

She has been a sponsor or co-sponsor of virtually every law passed pertaining to sexual deviance and child sacrifice, including all the bills that force Illinois schools to promote her assumptions about homosexuality and cross-sex impersonation, including to five-year-old children. I once referred to her as an “instigator of moral mayhem”—which she obviously is. She proudly took that phrase as a badge of honor and emblazoned t-shirts and mugs with it for her fans.

She is not only a propagandist obsessed with imposing her socially constructed sexuality dogma on other people’s children using taxpayer funds, but she’s also a liar in her quest to make abortion through the entire nine months of pregnancy for any and no reason both legal and paid for by taxpayers.

Two years ago, Cassidy lied during a floor debate on her Kill Babies bill when claiming she had a lifesaving “abortion” when in reality, she had had surgery to remove an ectopic pregnancy—a procedure that no one calls an abortion.

In an effort to silence then state representative and current gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey who opposed her bill, Cassidy demonstrated—again—how manipulative and deceitful she is, saying in an increasingly hostile and aggressive tone,

I will tell you that my abortion was medically necessary. It saved my life. It preserved my fertility. It allowed for the creation of my family, my children who are my world.

Cassidy knew that no white man in this racist anti-white and sexist anti-male climate would dare ask any follow-up questions following her fake-indignant and irrelevant “revelation.”

Here’s what Cassidy didn’t say in her exploitative and misleading response but has said publicly to the Chicago Sun-Times: Her so-called “abortion” followed fertility treatments that resulted in a “blighted ovum” implanted in her uterus and in an ectopic pregnancy, which is when a fertilized egg implants in a fallopian tube rather than the uterus. The termination of an ectopic pregnancy is not referred to as an abortion, and with a blighted ovum, there is no embryo, so her personal story was both false and irrelevant.

Remember Cassidy’s newest legislative insult to decency the next time another lying leftist says it’s no one’s business what people do in the privacy of their bedrooms.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send a message to your state representative to ask him/her to vote NO to “The Expanding Abortion Services Act,” HB 4146. There is no reason to create a new civil right to bring a civil action against anyone who causes an unintended pregnancy. Nor should state lawmakers create a new fund and state bureaucracy to pay for the abortions of non-residents.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Illinois-Dems-Bill-to-Punish-Texas-for-Heartbeat-Law.mp3

With the increasingly extreme attack on parental rights and medical freedom represented by Governor J.B. Pritzker’s COVID mask and vaccine mandates for schools, there has never been a better time for parents to sever all ties with the government’s “education” system.

As if the dumbing down, perverse sexualization and extreme indoctrination were not serious enough already for parents to make serious moves protecting their children, government officials in Illinois decided last month to double down on the extremism.

Among other deeply controversial policies, Gov. Pritzker decreed that all staff and even some eligible Illinois students must receive the experimental COVID injection. The Democrat governor also ordered all students over age 2, as well as all staff, to wear a face mask throughout the school day.

“This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” Pritzker claimed, falsely, during a press conference, citing debunked figures while ignoring the overwhelming evidence that fully vaccinated people are being hospitalized and dying in significant numbers. “People can slow the pandemic by masks and vaccinations.”

In reality, the latest data appear to show the COVID injections are practically worthless in protecting anyone from the virus — especially after some months have gone by. According to the latest government data out of the United Kingdom, (see p. 20) about two thirds of those who died from the so-called “Delta” variant were fully vaccinated at least two weeks earlier. Just 28 percent were unvaccinated.

On the mask mandate, Pritzker again appears to be ignoring actual science and data. For instance, as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis pointed out in his recent executive order banning mask mandates in public schools, a Brown University study found “no correlation” between masks and COVID in Florida schools.

DeSantis also pointed to studies showing an extremely low risk of children contracting a serious case of COVID. And he noted that there is no real evidence showing that counties with mask mandates fared any better than those with them during the previous school year. Even more concerning, the popular Florida governor warned of dangerous health consequences associated with face masks.

In any case, parents have the right to make medical decisions for their children, not bureaucrats and government officials, he said.

“Given the historical data on COVID-19 and the ongoing debate over whether masks are more harmful than beneficial to children and to school environments in general, we should protect the freedoms and statutory rights of students and parents by resting with the parents the decision whether their children should wear masks in school,” DeSantis said in his order.

Ironically, just two weeks before imposing his new mandates, Pritzker similarly argued that families should be involved in making decisions and that local policymakers should be making decisions for their jurisdictions.

But when not enough families and school districts bowed to the demands of the COVID totalitarians, Pritzker issued mandates and claimed to be merely following the “recommendations” of the disgraced CDC.

“Far too few school districts have chosen to follow the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention prescription for keeping students and staff safe,” Pritzker proclaimed. “Given the CDC’s strong recommendation, I had hoped that a state mask requirement in schools wouldn’t be necessary, but it is.”

Despite the media hysteria and the governor’s decrees, the non-profit group Illinois Policy pointed out that the number of daily deaths attributed to COVID in Illinois has been below 20 since mid-June, and COVID patients occupied just a small fraction of available ICU beds and ventilators.

Meanwhile, in Sweden, where authorities consistently advised against masks and shunned any sort of mandates at all, daily deaths have fallen to virtually zero.

Still, the threats from the governor and his supporters are already ramping up. The Illinois High School Association warned last month that any schools violating the governor’s decrees would have their student athletes banned from playoff games this fall.

Even private schools are being bullied. Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights had its state recognition revoked for failing to comply with the mandates. Adding insult to injury, Pritzker even claimed he would deny students their diplomas if schools did not comply with his edicts.

Republicans in Illinois blasted the governor’s antics. State Senator Darren Bailey, who is himself running for governor, blasted Pritzker as a “tyrant” who has overstepped his authority by issuing “unilateral mandates.”

“Unless you are part of a powerful special interest group that can help his campaign, he will continue to try and control your life,” Bailey added, saying masking should be a personal choice and that parents must “let their voices be heard on this despicable tyranny.”

One powerful way for parents to make their voices heard on this issue — and to protect their children from a wide range of other evils — is to exit the public school system entirely.

These outrageous abuses of power by Pritzker represent an attack on parental rights, medical freedom, the well being of Illinois children, and common sense. A growing amount of research is also pointing to very serious health risks poses by face masks, not to mention the catastrophic psychological damage being done.

Add to all of that the fact that in recent weeks, Pritzker signed a radical “sex ed” bill that is among the most extreme in the nation. Under the scheme, government schools will more vigorously promote abortion, promiscuity, gender confusion, homosexuality, and more.

Parents who are sick of being bullied and terrorized by out-of-control officials do have options. Homeschooling is one excellent choice that is in line with the Bible and can protect children and families from this sort of abuse. The number of homeschooling families in the state has more than doubled over the past year already.

At this point, it should be clear that government schools are not safe for children or families — and the risks extend far beyond that. Only a mass exodus can neutralize the threat and protect Illinois’ future.

Our Springfield snollygosters are working tenaciously to provide Christian parents with a plethora of reasons to abandon government schools in Illinois. On Thursday afternoon (May 20th), the Illinois Senate took up and debated another “comprehensive” sex education bill (SB 818) that so-called “progressives” and their evil allies–Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and Equality Illinois–are using to indoctrinate children starting in kindergarten.

This bill to corrupt children with leftist humanistic values is sponsored by Illinois State Senator Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago) and passed by a partisan vote of 37 to 18 with four members not voting. It is now up for consideration in the Illinois House, where State Representative Camille Lilly (D-Chicago) is the chief sponsor.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send a message to your state representative to ask him/her to vote against SB 818. Impressionable students in public schools should not be exposed to body- and soul-destroying messages that promote leftist beliefs about sexuality.

Background

The Illinois Senate debated this controversial legislation for almost an hour on Thursday afternoon. You can watch/listen to the entire debate on the IFI YouTube channel or on our newer Rumble channel. You can also watch the embedded version at the end of this article.

It was encouraging to see five conservative senators rise to question the sponsor and/or criticize the bill. Kudos to Illinois State Senators Sue Rezin (R-Morris), Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro), Darren Bailey (R-Louisville), Neil Anderson (R-Moline), and Jason Plummer (R-Vandalia) for boldly speaking against this terrible bill.

Regarding the hour-long debate, there are just too many fallacies, outright lies and corrupt intentions to address in one article. Here are just a few of the glaring problems.

State Senator Celina Villanueva (D-Summit), a former sex education teacher, rose to ask the sponsor, “What’s the main goal of this bill?” Senator Villivalam responded:

The main goal is to insure that our youth have the opportunity to be safe and healthy by obtaining and having access to age and developmentally appropriate, medically accurate information and making sure that no one, no one, feels excluded in their classroom. No one feels excluded in their community.

Well, the bill also demands that comprehensive sex education classes be “culturally” appropriate, which the bill defines as follows:

“Culturally appropriate” means affirming culturally diverse individuals, families, and communities in an inclusive, respectful, and effective manner, including materials and instruction that are inclusive of race, ethnicity, language, cultural background, immigration status, religion, disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, and sexual behavior.

Culturally diverse and culturally appropriate? This Planned Parenthood legislation is neither inclusive nor respectful of orthodox Jewish, Christian or Muslim families. What families from these faith traditions deem to be “developmentally appropriate” is wildly different from what Planned Parenthood, the ACLU and Equality Illinois celebrate and promote. This point is further illuminated by the floor statement made by State Senator Patricia Van Pelt (D-Chicago):

In my history, before I came here, I was a preacher, and I preached on a regular basis. When I looked at bills like this it was really, really hard for me to get my hands around it, because it was so contrary to what we teach in church. But this is a law this is not a church. And we are representatives of the people in our district. We are not their preachers. We are not their pastors. We are not the ones that’s gonna make them keep the values right or their morals right. 

I learned by being here that many of the things that we held true in the church was actually hurting our community. And I think not having that knowledge not letting those children have the knowledge about what this is [is not good]

…

I’m standing in support of this bill as a new Patricia, not the Patricia that came in here. Because the Patricia that came in here would have had a hard time even voting for it, more less standing up and saying ‘yes, these children need to know what’s happening to them.’

State Senator Van Pelt has been in Springfield since 2013, and by her own testimony, it appears she has been thoroughly corrupted by the Springfield swamp. The “new Patricia,” must have a heart of stone because she has repeatedly ignored the Holy Spirit’s promptings to do what is right. The “new Patricia” no longer has a problem upholding sexually corrupt material being taught to children.

It was also disappointing  to hear State Senator Doris Turner (D-Carlinville) assert that “families come in very different sizes and boxes and no one has the right to define what a family is and what a family should consist of.” As with “marriage,” the God of creation ordained family. It is He who has the right to define what a family is and what it is not.

Senators Van Pelt, Turner and many of their colleagues think that “knowledge” will solve the problems caused by a sexualized culture. State Senator Linda Holmes (D-Aurora) even stated on the floor during debate:

I just don’t understand it, I think what we are doing when we are teaching–again, age-appropriate, medically accurate–sex education to our children, we are arming them with knowledge, and I don’t know when that has ever been a bad thing. 

Maybe Senator Holmes doesn’t remember, or maybe she was never taught the creation story. Genesis 2:15-17 tells us:

Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Knowledge of evil is not a good thing. It leads to death. Comprehensive sex education as proposed by Planned Parenthood, et al. is evil. Exposing young, innocent and impressionable students to Planned Parenthood’s  view of “age appropriate” material normalizes early and high-risk sexual experimentation.

Perhaps the clearest denunciation of this atrocious bill came from State Senator Darren Bailey who rightly said it will put “perversion into our schools.”

I sat here and I listen to this, and I participate in what I expect to be a prestigious body. And here we are dealing with absolute nonsense of putting perversion into our schools. Yeah, that’s what it is, it’s perversion.

Thank God we still have some state lawmakers in Springfield with the moral clarity and backbone to boldly tell the truth about this insidious agenda to undermine and subvert Judeo-Christian values.

You can watch/listen to the entire 57 minutes here:

More info:

The War on Children [VIDEO]

Stop CSE Tools & Resources

Sign the Online Petition

A Plea to Exit Public Schools ASAP

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Written by Austin Scott Davies

Late last week, Illinois Circuit Court Judge Michael McHaney of Clay County ruled in a lawsuit that “all citizens of Illinois” are free from Governor J.B. Pritzker‘s tyrannical orders. This comes after arguably unethical tactics by the Illinois Attorney General to delay the case by trying to remove it to federal court, and the United States Department of Justice filing a Statement of Interest in the case in support of the lawsuit.

State Representative Darren Bailey (R-Louisville) prevailed in his Motion for Summary Judgment on Counts II and III of his lawsuit against Governor Pritzker on April 23, 2020. The judge granted the declaratory relief requested in those counts and ordered a final judgment on the merits against Pritzker.

The judge ruled that by law Gov. Pritzker’s emergency powers lapsed 30 days after he declared COVID-19 a disaster and that all of his orders after April 8, 2020 that relate to the COVID-19 “disaster” are void ab initio. That’s Latin for void when they were created. Pritzker had no authority to issue orders after April 8, and legally, all orders issued after that date never existed. The Emergency Management Agency Act, which Gov. Pritzker claimed gave him authority to issue perpetual decrees shuttering businesses and churches and authority to suspend countless civil liberties, states clearly that a governor only has certain emergency powers that can be exercised for no more than 30 days following the declaration of a disaster.

The court went on to rule that there is no authority in the Constitution for Pritzker to have ever ordered the restriction of people’s movement or to have ever ordered the forcible closure of any business.

The judge made clear that in Illinois only the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and local health departments have the authority to restrict movement or close a business. To restrict movement or close a business, IDPH and local health departments must act within the constraints of existing law to take each individual person or business to court and overcome an incredibly high burden of proof. If the department is merely trying to prevent the spread of a virus or isolate a person that’s not already sick, that burden of proof is nearly insurmountable.

Specifically, Section 2 of the IDPH Act (20 ILCS 2305) allows the IDPH and local health authorities to order quarantine and isolation and to close places to prevent the probable spread of a dangerous or infectious disease. However, these agencies cannot make such orders without a prior court order, or consent by the person or persons effected.

The only exception to this is if, in the “reasonable judgment of the agency” issuing the order, “immediate action is required to protect the public from a dangerously contagious or infectious disease.” In that event, they can make such orders on a temporary basis, lasting no longer than 48 hours.

If a department of health issues such an order, they are still required to either obtain your consent or a court order within 48 hours of doing so, unless the courts are unavailable or circumstances make it impossible to obtain a court order. Then, the orders can only stay in place until the agency can obtain the court order through reasonable means.

The courts, however, are not closed, and some county courts have even made new local rules making it clear that they are open for these types of cases. To obtain an order to quarantine, isolate, or close a place or business, the health department must prove to a court “by clear and convincing evidence . . . that the public’s health and welfare are significantly endangered by a person or group of persons that has, that is suspected of having, that has been exposed to, or that is reasonably believed to have been exposed to a dangerously contagious or infectious disease including non-compliant tuberculosis patients or by a place where there is a significant amount of activity likely to spread a dangerously contagious or infectious disease. The Department must also prove that all other reasonable means of correcting the problem have been exhausted and no less restrictive alternative exists.”

At such hearing, you have a right to be represented by an attorney of your choosing, or if you are “indigent,” the court will appoint counsel to represent you. The burden is on the government to prove why you should close, isolate, or be quarantined. You do not have to prove why you should keep your business open or move about without restrictions.

At the behest of Gov. Pritzker and prior to this ruling, the IDPH has come out with “guidelines” that are phrased as orders that require certain measures of quarantine, partial business closure, and isolation such as “social” physical distancing. None of these “guidelines” or orders are enforceable unless you consent to them, or a health department complies with the due process protections described above and obtains a court order.

Shortly after this ruling, Gov. Pritzker and mainstream “news” media led a disinformation campaign to deceive Illinoisans by suggesting that “Phase 4” is still in full effect because Gov. Pritzker prevailed in other lawsuits regarding these onerous orders. While it is true that some courts have ruled against other plaintiffs that have filed lawsuits against Gov. Pritzker that are related to his orders, none have made any ruling inconsistent with the ruling in State Rep. Darren Bailey’s lawsuit. The other lawsuits referenced by Pritzker and his cohorts made different legal claims against Pritzker, were not representative actions, and in no way limit or constrain Judge McHaney’s ruling that all citizens of Illinois are free from Pritzker’s unlawful orders. This ruling applies to the entire state of Illinois and not just Clay County in the Circuit Court where it was made.

What is really telling is that only Pritzker and his cohorts are engaging in the campaign of disinformation, continuing to try to compel compliance to his void orders by intimidation. The Illinois Attorney General’s Office will not comment or respond to questions regarding the ruling.

Since the relief granted was declaratory relief, or relief which declares the parties rights under law—the parties here being Gov. Pritzker and all citizens of Illinois—the remedy of contempt of court is not available to punish Gov. Pritzker for disregarding this ruling. Unlike an injunction, a declaratory judgment does not order a party to do something or refrain from doing something. The judgment in this case is, however, valuable, in that not only does it invalidate Gov. Pritzker’s orders, but it can also be used by any citizen of Illinois to sue Pritzker and other public officials that have unlawfully deprived them of their civil rights, and any that would continue to unlawfully deprive them of their civil rights in clear violation of this judgment and under color of law.

Pritzker has even reportedly claimed that the ruling was not a final judgment on the merits, yet the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, which represents Gov. Pritzker, stated their intent to file an appeal seeking to overturn the judgment. If the ruling was not a final judgment on the merits, it could not be appealed. Unless this judgment is appealed and overturned by an appellate court, any order made by Pritzker that purported to restrict people’s movement, forcibly close any business, and any order related to COVID-19 that he made after April 8, has indeed been declared void and no longer exists anywhere in the State of Illinois.

More:

Click HERE to listen to a 10 minute interview of attorney Thomas DeVore by WMAY radio host Greg Bishop for a clarification on what the Judge Michael McHaney means.

Austin Scott Davies is an attorney and founder of Midwest Legal Care , former prosecutor, and an active member of the Winnebago County Republican Party. He is also a board member for Concerned Citizens for America, a local chapter of Illinois Family Institute.

The information contained in this article is not legal advice and is for general information purposes only. Do not act or refrain from acting on the basis of this information. Readers should contact an attorney to obtain advice with respect to any legal matter.

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On March 9, Governor J.B. Pritzker issued his first “stay-at-home” emergency Executive Order (EO). That was followed by another EO extending his stay-at-home order through April 30th. Then last week, Gov. Pritzker extended his stay-at-home order for another 30 days, through the end of May. If not extended again, that would constitute a total of 11 weeks of a lock-down for Illinois residents and businesses.

Since Illinois law only grants the governor emergency authority for a period of 30 days, the extensions of Gov. Pritzker’s “stay-at-home” order, which closes businesses and forbids church services and assemblies in excess of ten citizens, constitutes an overreach of executive authority. Thankfully, State Representative Darren Bailey (R-Louisville) took Gov. Pritzker to court over this very issue and won an important decision that may lead to a definitive strike-down of the governor’s dangerous precedent. In fact, Clay County Circuit Court Judge Michael McHaney was reported as saying that Gov. Pritzker’s “subsequent executive orders ‘shredded the Constitution.’” The governor has promised to appeal this decision, so it may not be resolved anytime soon.

Gov. Pritzker and state lawmakers need to hear from their constituents about the abuse of power and the infringement of our civil liberties.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send a message to Gov. Pritzker and your state lawmakers asking them to end the lock-down and restore our civil liberties. Consider pointing out that our First Amendment rights to freely exercise our religion and to assemble in our churches are essential.

Background

In fairness to Gov. Prizker, the state’s initial response was part of his administrative effort to slow the spread of the disease and “flatten the curve” of COVID-19 hospitalizations. Yet over the past 6 weeks we have learned a lot about the COVID-19 pandemic. For one thing, the initial government predictions of hospitalizations and deaths were wrong. Thank God that these projections have been repeatedly revised downward but, unfortunately, not before contributing to the incitement of great fear and anxiety.

In Illinois, we have not come close to exceeding hospitalization and healthcare capacity. An excellent article by Wirepoints provides evidence of the adequacy of ICU bed capacity and ventilator availability.

Three weeks ago, Governor Pritzker stood before the media complaining about the Trump administration and our great need for ventilators, ICU beds, and other medical equipment. He was wrong. Illinois didn’t use half of the available ventilators and only two-thirds of available hospital beds.

The facts that have emerged over the past few weeks do not warrant Gov. Pritzker’s extended “stay-at-home” order. So, it is not surprising that his announced plans to extend the Illinois lock-down through the end of May is provoking a growing “enough is enough” response.

This past Friday, Illinois State Representative Allen Skillicorn (R-McHenry) issued a press release publicly asking,

Has the Governor lost his mind! How in the world could he possibly think of continuing a statewide lockdown when Cook County and Chicago are 70% of the positive cases, while 84 counties have less than 100 positives of which 75 have less than 50 positives. Just what will it take to convince Pharaoh Pritzker to let people in most of Illinois go!

Additionally, an Illinois Appellate Prosecutors Office’s staff memo sent by David J. Robinson, Chief Deputy Director of the 102 State’s Attorneys across Illinois are forewarned of possible litigation:

A cursory review of the EO (and extension) reveal clear – although potentially justified – infringements on the constitutional rights of Illinois citizens. See Article I, §2 (the State due process clause); Article I, §3 (religious freedom, including “mode of worship” protection); Article I, §5 (right to assemble and petition); Article I, §15 (right of eminent domain); and Article I, §24 (rights retained).

Article I, §23 also specifically accounts for citizen’s being responsible for their actions to preserve liberty, as follows: “A frequent recurrence to the fundamental principles of civil government is necessary to preserve the blessings of liberty. These blessings cannot endure unless the people recognize their corresponding individual obligations and responsibilities.” Implicit in §23 is idea that emergencies may require adherence to individual responsibility rather than suspension of Constitutional rights.

…

From a strict enforcement standpoint, although well-intentioned on an emergency basis, the EO is very broad and does not appear to meet strict scrutiny – this is not to mention the EO appears to be beyond the framework of the specific Act it cites as support.

Illinoisans must awaken to the truth: the governor’s edicts infringe on our God-given, unalienable rights as set forth in our federal and state constitutions.

Speak Out

Calls and email messages to state lawmakers are vital. Too many politicians are keeping their heads down and have not challenged the abuse of power by the Pritzker administration. They are simply afraid of the media and the negative coverage they may receive as a result of being outspoken. Calls to these lawmakers are needed to get them off the sideline and into the fray. They need to be emboldened.

Our grand experiment in liberty, built firmly on Judeo/Christian (Biblical) truths and values, calls for servant leaders whose fallen human natures were reined in by a system of checks and balances. Let’s return to that vision and fight for the liberty our forefathers bled and died for.

Now is not the time for silence but for mighty prayers and grassroots action.

If you appreciate the work and ministry of IFI, please consider a tax-deductible donation to sustain our endeavors.  It does make a difference.

We have a loving and merciful God of compassion who wants us to turn to Him and take shelter in Him as our refuge and our strength. He is our sure rock in the midst of any storm, the light that pierces every darkness, and an anchor of hope for those who contend with despair. We should embrace every opportunity to bring our appeals before Him.

Prayer Guidance Points:

Pray for Revival: We may not be able to see it now, but God is working good in this season of COVID-19 (Romans 8:28). Pray that people around the world would seek God during this pandemic and economic shut down. Pray that the lost would find great hope and eternal peace in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

For the Glory of God: Pray that this crisis would be a wake-up call to lukewarm believers and would-be seekers. Pray that God would draw people to Himself in a powerful way. Pray for the spread of the Gospel. In this time of great anxiety and uncertainty, pray that God’s people would be ready to meet the world with the comfort and hope that only the good news of Jesus Christ can offer.

For those in Authority: As they decide how to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, pray for President Donald Trump and his teams of health and economic advisors. Pray for Governor J.B. Pritzker and his advisors. Pray for local city officials throughout the state. May the Lord give them an abundance of wisdom and discernment so that the “stay in place” order will quickly diminish and life can get back to normal.

Peace: May God Almighty reach out to all those who fear that they are sinking beneath waves of anxiety. May they receive that courage, resilience, and healing grace that can only come from the Prince of Peace.

Greater Faith: Pray that through this we would better understand what it means to “walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Cor 5:7). Scripture teaches that God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control (2 Tim 1:7). Pray for enduring faith during this season of heightened fear, anxiety, and confusion. Appropriate precautions should be taken, but Christians must continue to rely on God and trust His purposes and plans (Rom. 8:28).

Medical Workers: Pray for healthcare workers and first responders who are on the front lines. Pray for protection for their health and protection for the health of their families.

News Media: Christians should pray for those in the news media. Pray that reporters and journalists would accurately report updates about the status of the virus and not seek to peddle conspiracies, politicize the threat, or stoke fear where it is unwarranted.

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One Illinois lawmaker is calling for a state-wide day of prayer on April 24. Citing the situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to look toward the future, State Representative Darren Bailey (R- Louisville), issued the call in a media release.

“I understand addressing the immediate health consequences of the virus is a priority, but we must not lose focus on what we need to do to restore Illinois to prosperity and inspire recovery,” said Bailey. “Also, calling out to God for help is simply accessing a Divine resource that is ours for the asking.”

Drawing from Matthew 18:20, Bailey said, “We know from Scripture, the Holy Word of God, the Lord hears us when we call out.”

The three main focuses of the Day of Prayer are,

1.) Pray for our nation and its leaders (1 Timothy 2:1-4)

2.) Pray for those struggling with anxiety (Philippians 4:6-7)

3.) Pray for those in need (Psalm 22:4-5, 19)

While noting the immediate priority to focus on the virus, “we must not lose focus on what we need to do to restore Illinois to prosperity and inspire recovery,” said Bailey. The release pointed to research by the Illinois Policy Institute that ranked Illinois 47th out of 50 states in having the worst private-sector economies in the nation in 2019–losing 13,100 manufacturing jobs.

Bailey recommended steps to get the economy back on track including taking the graduated income tax proposal off the ballot in November and putting the state on a diet. “We need less spending and smaller government,” Bailey said. “When times are tough for families, they tighten their belts, save their money, and do with less. If such commonsense solutions are good enough for working families, it ought to be good enough for government.”

What would happen if church members from around Illinois came to Springfield and sat praying in the House gallery each time it met during the spring 2020 session? What could God do in Illinois? That’s what Illinois State Rep. Dave Severin (R-Marion) wants to find out.

Severin is inviting Christians in Illinois to visit the Pray for Springfield Facebook page to schedule a date on the Illinois House calendar to come pray in the gallery. The idea came to him when he was driving home last June following the end of the spring legislative session. The Reproductive Health Act had just been passed, giving Illinois the most progressive abortion laws in the nation.

During the lengthy committee meetings and debates prior to the Act’s passage, Severin had seen groups of women wearing red capes and white hats depicting handmaidens from the online series “The Handmaiden’s Tale,” based on Margaret Atwood’s book of the same name, sitting silent in the audience and gallery. Severin wondered, “Where are the Christians? Where is the Church?” That’s when his idea to start the Pray for Springfield Facebook page originated.

Severin describes the page as non-partisan. “It’s non-denominational,” he said. “I’m not pushing anything other than for people to come and pray for our state.”

Multiple church groups, mainly from the southern part of the state, have already signed up to sit quietly praying in the gallery for a few hours while the Illinois House is in session.

Discussing his reasons for starting the movement, Severin said, “I want to encourage Christians across the state to pray that God would turn legislators’ hearts and give them wisdom to promote things that are good and right, and that He would give people reason to come to Illinois and stay in the state.”

The kickoff

Pray for Springfield kicked off with a rally on January 28, the opening day of the spring legislative session in the Capitol rotunda. Severin was joined by some of his fellow lawmakers, Christian prayer groups such as Concerned Women for America, and church groups.

State Rep. Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville) addressed the crowd, sharing from 2 Chronicles 20 and speaking about King Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah facing vast armies: “King Jehoshaphat called the assembly to the temple and they began to call out to the Lord. The Lord said, ‘Do be afraid because the battle is yours.’ There were men appointed to sing praise to the Lord. The Lord blessed his people who stood in assembly and cried out to God.”

To the concerned Illinoisans gathered for prayer, Halbrook said, “Don’t give up, be afraid, or discouraged. The Lord will prevail in this matter. That is the great lesson here for all of us.”

He also thanked them for coming and said, “We, all of us, covet your prayers. We need them.”

Another of the Illinois House members speaking was State Rep. Darren Bailey (R-Louisville), who began by expressing his thankfulness: “I cannot think of a more privileged opportunity, a more privileged time to live in our history…to be here and serve God in this capacity as a state representative in Illinois government than now after the dark ages that we’ve been in. We’re going to see God do some great things this year, I believe that.”

In contrast to what some Christian leaders have been publicly stating, Bailey urged Christians to become more politically active. He told those gathered, “Go back to your churches, go back to your family, go back to your dinner tables, whenever people say, I don’t want to get political. Say, guess what? That’s why we are in this mess! The church has got to step up and get involved, get informed, get engaged, get out, and get busy!”

“Proverbs 28:2 tells us when there is moral rot in the nation a government topples easily,” shared Bailey, “but where there’s wise and knowledgeable leaders it brings stability. So, we need your prayers for this entire house, this entire building, this entire city, this entire state, this entire country…”

Severin, the man who started it all, was the last of the government officials to speak.

“You know how you call the fire department when the house is on fire? You know who the fire department is?” Severin asked, pointing to the assembled crowd. “It’s you, you are the fire department!”

“You know who is going to turn this state around?” he shouted. “It’s not Republicans. It’s not Democrats. It’s you guys, it’s your faith and your trust in the Lord!

“This state needs hope. I own a business and when I call vendors in other states, they say there’s no hope for Illinois. There is hope for Illinois. That hope is in Jesus!”

The rally concluded with prayer for the state of Illinois and its representatives, with calls for God to give them wisdom and for them to seek His leadership.

To learn more, go to facebook.com/prayforspringfield and consider finding a date to sign up to bring a group from your church to pray in the Illinois House gallery.

IFI is hosting our annual Worldview Conference on March 7th at the Village Church of Barrington. This year’s conference is titled “Thinking Biblically About Our Corrosive Culture” and features Dr. Michael Brown and Dr. Rob Gagnon. For more information, please click HERE for a flyer or click the button below to register for the conference.

I wrote this last Friday:

Regressives got a pledge from the thoroughly corrupt Mike Madigan, who rules Madiganistan with a blood-stained fist, to speedily advance Cassidy’s radical abortion bill by any unethical means possible, preventing due deliberation and preventing those who seek to defend life a chance to marshal their forces against it.

When I wrote those words, I had no idea how low Madigan and State Representative Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) would stoop in their unholy quest to make Illinois the Land of Liquidation—baby liquidation, that is.

On Sunday night during Memorial Day weekend when most Illinoisans took time to honor the men and women who have sacrificed their comfort, time, safety, and lives to secure our freedom, Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago) revealed again the fetid rot that has devoured him and much of the Illinois General Assembly. He suddenly scheduled a meeting of the Appropriations-Human Services Committee to vote on Cassidy’s loathsome Kill-Babies-Bill—deceptively named the “Reproductive Health Act”—with only one hour’s notice. This bill will, among other things, legalize human slaughter throughout the whole nine months of pregnancy (It repeals the partial-birth abortion ban) for any reason—including sex selection—and encode in law the repugnant notion that unborn humans have zero rights.

Early Tuesday afternoon, the Illinois House passed Cassidy’s Kill-Babies-Bill by a vote of 64-50 (with four voting present). It now moves to the Illinois Senate, which has a greater percentage of liberals. (See roll call graphic below.)

Here are some of the stinking rotten details of the egregious violation of public trust that took place Sunday night and of which many Illinoisans may be unaware:

• Cassidy introduced her original Kill-Babies-Bill (HB 2495) on February 13 but it never received even a hearing, so she tweaked it a bit to make it more offensive to the consciences of decent people, including specifically denying that humans in the womb have any legal rights.

• On Sunday, May 26, Cassidy and her accomplices then gutted a different bill (i.e., The Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code: SB 25) that had already moved through the first three of the five steps of the legislative process, replacing it with her Kill-Babies-Bill as an amendment to the now-gutted bill. This enables Cassidy’s bill to circumvent the regular lawmaking process before the legislative session ends on May 31.

• Madigan’s House rules require a minimum of one hour’s notice between the posting of a bill and its hearing and vote in committee. Cassidy and her accomplices posted the new 126-page “amendment” at 6:08 p.m. on Sunday night during a holiday weekend and scheduled the hearing at 7:08 p.m., thereby preventing opponents from attending and speaking out against it. The “suddenness” of the meeting explains why Cassidy had an ACLU attorney present with a polished 4-minute disquisition and an abortionist with a 5-minute presentation while opponent speakers Ralph Rivera representing Illinois Right to Life Action and Zachary Wichmann representing the Catholic Conference of Illinois were able to make only extemporaneous comments.

• At the beginning of the meeting, committee members were given a thick packet of letters from only proponents of the Kill-Babies-Bill.

• The spanking new Kill-Babies-Bill/amendment was assigned to the House Appropriations-Human Services Committee—chaired by State Representative Robyn Gabel (D-Chicago), who is a former training coordinator for Planned Parenthood. The bill did not belong in this committee because it contained no appropriations. It was assigned to that committee because that’s the committee where it was assured to pass.

In an inspiring, must-see statement, State Representative Tom Demmer (R-Dixon) succinctly addressed the violations of the public’s trust and the spirit of laws intended to increase the transparency of the lawmaking process that took place Sunday night. Please watch Rep. Demmer in this short video.

Far-left freshman State Representative Bob Morgan (D-Deerfield) tried futilely to dismiss the ethical implications of what Madigan did in calling this hearing by saying the Reproductive Health Act has been out for months, so constituents had plenty of time to make their voices heard.

Yeah, riiight.  Nothing to see there. Pay no attention to Madigan hiding behind the curtain. It’s completely unimportant that Leftists gutted an existing bill to substitute in Cassidy’s radical and pernicious Kill-Babies-Bill. And it’s completely unimportant that the hearing was suddenly scheduled on Sunday night during a holiday weekend. And it’s completely unimportant that Cassidy’s 126-page “amendment” was posted the minimum amount of time required by law (one-hour) before a hearing commences making it impossible for constituents or experts to show up to testify in opposition to this proposal.

State Representative Tony McCombie (R-Savanna)—a woman—responded that the issue wasn’t whether constituents had sufficient time to express their views to their lawmakers. The issue was that because of Madigan’s decision to suddenly call the committee meeting on Sunday night on a holiday weekend with only one hour’s notice, Illinoisans were denied the opportunity to express their views at the committee hearing. Unlike the ACLU attorney and abortionist, Rivera and Wichmann were denied the opportunity to develop and present polished presentations.

Another hero of the evening was State Representative Darren Bailey (R-Louisville) who asked how many of the 39,832 abortions performed in Illinois in 2017 were “medically necessary” to preserve the health or life of pregnant women—which are the reasons emphasized by abortion-shouters to justify the slaughter of humans in the womb. (Watch the video here.)

Cassidy admitted she has no idea because the state does not collect such information. Of course, it’s a moot issue, since allowing abortion to protect the “health” of the mother is so wildly expansive that it includes any and no reason.

In an effort to silence Bailey, Cassidy demonstrated—again—how manipulative and deceitful she is, saying in an increasingly hostile and aggressive tone,

I will tell you that my abortion was medically necessary. It saved my life. It preserved my fertility. It allowed for the creation of my family, my children who are my world.

Cassidy knew that no white man in this anti-white, anti-male climate would dare ask any follow-up questions following her faux-indignant and irrelevant “revelation.”

Here’s what Cassidy didn’t say in her exploitative and misleading response but has said publicly to the Chicago Sun-Times. Her “abortion” followed fertility treatments that resulted in a “blighted ovum” implanted in her uterus and in an ectopic pregnancy, which is when a fertilized egg implants in a fallopian tube rather than the uterus. The termination of an ectopic pregnancy is not referred to as an abortion, and with a blighted ovum, there is no embryo, so her personal story is irrelevant.

As McCombie was graciously expressing her sympathy for Cassidy’s experience, Cassidy, oozing open hostility at the lawmaker’s compassion, interrupted her to say, “I’m not sorry. I’m deeply grateful that that option was available.”

We’re all grateful that women can have ectopic pregnancies terminated—which need not involve the intentional killing of a fetus—and we’re all grateful that anembryonic (i.e., no embryo) blighted ova can be removed via a D & C, but women would have those ethical options even if abortion were banned.

Perhaps Cassidy would compromise with Republicans and agree to limit the termination of pregnancies to ectopic pregnancies and the removal of blighted ova—or as she referred to hers, “abortions.” Ectopic pregnancies account for 1-2% of pregnancies and 93% of that 1-2% result in miscarriages, so such a compromise would reduce the number of humans killed in the womb by a LOT.

Bailey—who urged a “NO” vote on what he rightly called “this disgusting bill”—noticed something odd in the changes Cassidy made to her Kill-Babies-Bill, something that exposes Cassidy’s anti-science/anti-reality ignorance. He asked her why she replaced the word “woman” with “individual” when referring to those seeking an abortion. Cassidy, obviously in thrall to the science-denying “trans” ideology, defiantly refused to answer Bailey’s easy-peasy questions:

Bailey: We’ve changed “woman” to “individual.” Who else can get pregnant besides a woman?

Cassidy (answering stiffly): Anyone with a uterus and ovaries can become pregnant.

Bailey: So, someone other than a woman can get pregnant?

Cassidy: Anyone with a uterus and ovaries can become pregnant.

Bailey: Does anyone other than a woman have a uterus?

Cassidy: Anyone with a uterus and ovaries can become pregnant. (Watch the video here.)

It’s a good thing Cassidy-the-Stepford-lawmaker who robotically repeated the “trans” mantra isn’t also a biology teacher.

Cassidy said, “These efforts [to outlaw abortion] have the greatest impact on the most vulnerable populations.” Say what? Was Cassidy about to express her concern for “fetuses” with Down Syndrome? Was she about to express her concern for babies aborted because their mothers don’t like their sex? Was she about to express her concern for black babies who are being targeted by Planned Parenthood?

Nope. No compassion for those vulnerable populations from Cassidy. Her concern was purportedly for “women of color and the poor.” Of course, everyone knows Cassidy’s central concern is about preserving the legal right of women to hire people to kill their offspring, whether those women are poor women of color or wealthy, colorless women.

Please take the time to watch State Representative Avery Bourne (R-Raymond) in this short video, as well as this short video of State Representative Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro) who spoke out boldly in committee. Illinois desperately needs more lawmakers like Demmer, Bailey, Bourne, McCombie, and Bryant.

Take ACTION:  Click HERE to send a message to your state senator, state representative and to Gov. JB Pritzker. Urge them to stop targeting innocent pre-born children and vulnerable women in Illinois. Ask them to vote against the grotesquely misnamed “Reproductive Health Act.”

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/SB-25-House.mp3

SB 25 Roll Call

The God-rejecting, science-denying, incoherent “trans” ideology lurches on destroying lives, aided and abetted by ignorant people like Illinois’ Governor J.B. Pritzker who is using an administrative rule to force Illinoisans to pay for “gender reassignment” surgery and risky cross-sex hormone-doping through Medicaid.

The term “gender reassignment surgery” is absurd. Physicians do not “reassign” or “confirm” gender. Nor do they reassign, confirm, or change a person’s sex. The surgery Pritzker seeks to make taxpayers fund in this morally and fiscally bankrupt state is surgery that mutilates healthy bodies in order to enable those who suffer from gender dysphoria to pass as the sex they are not and never can be. Such medical malpractice is lucrative for surgeons and pharmaceutical companies but grievously harmful to its victims. Forcing Illinoisans to subsidize it is a social, political, and moral injustice.

At the same time, however, more and more brave souls are emerging on the cultural scene to fight back against the heart-, mind-, and body-destroying “trans” ideology often at great personal cost.

The number of men and women “detransitioning” grows, and they’re trying to warn others through websites like Sex Change Regret and Pique Resilience Project about the numerous problems—intellectual, moral, social, political, and medical—that are integral to the “trans” ideology.

Conservative and “progressive” women—including self-identifying lesbians—have created an organization called Hands Across the Aisle to oppose the implementation of “gender identity theory” through legislation and to prevent the sexual integration of women’s activities and private spaces.

“Gender-critical” radical feminists like Kara Dansky and lesbians Sheila Jeffreys and Julia Beck (who was kicked off of a Boston “LGBT” commission for her belief that only women can be lesbians and for her refusal to use female pronouns when referring to a male rapist who pretends to be a woman) are speaking out.

The Heritage Foundation has held two panel discussions that included lesbians, radical feminists, conservative Christians, and a man who formerly identified as a woman, all who share in common unstinting critiques of the “trans” ideology. (To watch them, click here  and here)

Scholars like Lisa Littman, Lisa Marchiano, Heather Brunskell-Evans, and Rebecca Reilly Cooper are dissecting the “trans” ideology, exposing its weaknesses.

And websites like 4thWaveNow and Transgender Trend, both started by parents of children caught up in the darkness and delusion of the “trans” ideology, are helping each other and the public at large better understand the dangers posed by the wholesale cultural embrace of the “trans” madness, including the embrace of it by medical and mental health communities, which now results in surgeons performing double mastectomies on 13-year-old girls and castrating 16- and 17-year-old boys.

The newest organization to emerge on the scene is The Kelsey Coalition, “a national group of parents whose transgender-identifying children have been harmed by physicians, therapists, and clinics throughout the US.” The Kelsey Coalition is calling for the term “gender identity” to be removed from the Equality Act and from what are called “conversion therapy bans,” which unjustifiably ban conventional counseling protocols.

The Kelsey Coalition has also mounted a critically important campaign to stop an unethical, ideology-driven five-year study of gender-dysphoric minors funded by taxpayers through a $5.7 million grant from  the National Institutes of Health (NIH)to four “gender” clinics—including one at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago headed up by HIV-positive homosexual pediatrician Dr. Robert Garofalo. A profile of Garofalo—who started Lurie’s gender clinic with a huge donation from J.B. Pritker’s male cousin who masquerades as a woman—in Chicago Magazine at the start of the NIH study makes this disturbing claim:

For now Garofalo’s treatments have to be seen as a radical form of medical improvisation.

This study, begun in 2015, uses children as lab rats to study the effects of puberty-blocking drugs and cross-sex hormone-doping on minors. The Kelsey Coalition’s press release states the following:

This NIH study is a five-year observational experiment in which children are treated with powerful drugs to treat a non-medical condition. The basis for inclusion in the study is little more than a child’s self-identification as transgender. There is no control group….

Young children in the study are given puberty-blocking drugs; older children, cross-sex hormones. There is neither FDA approval, nor a single safety study, to support the use of these medications by healthy children and adolescents. According to Dr. Michael Laidlaw, medical consultant to the Coalition,” These drugs will radically alter their endocrine systems, impact sexual function, and fertility, while putting them at increased risk of developing other serious medical health conditions.”

… “In 2017, the protocol was changed mid-study: the minimum age for cross-sex hormone inclusion was decreased from age thirteen to age eight. According to the 2018 progress report, 19 children have been recruited into the new 8-12 year-old cohort.”

The Kelsey Coalition contends this trial is unethical and violates laws protecting human subjects.

Through this study, taxpayers are subsidizing unethical science experiments on children as young as 8 years old.

We’re paying for quack doctors to suppress or prevent puberty, which irrevocably alters formative adolescent social experiences, making it unlikely that children will ever reclaim a proper and true sexual identity:

The impact on sexuality has not yet been studied, but the restriction of sexual appetite brought about by blockers may prevent the adolescent from having age-appropriate socio-sexual experiences.

We’re paying for the cross-sex hormone doping of minors that is supported by zero research assuring its long-term safety and which leaves children permanently sterile.

While forging ahead in its support for this medical barbarism, UnitedHealthcare Oxford ironically states that,

Clinical evidence supporting the use of GnRH analogs [puberty blockers] for the treatment of gender dysphoria is limited and lacks long-term safety data. Statistically robust randomized controlled trials are needed to address the issue of whether the benefits outweigh the clinical risk in its use.

Medical professionals believe cross-sex hormones may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, blood clots, and cancer. And they believe puberty-blockers may have deleterious effects on bone and neurological development.

Remarkably, even here in the moral and intellectual darkness that engulfs our once great state, glimmers of light offer hope to beleaguered Illinoisans. Two courageous lawmakers are taking bold public stands against the “trans” madness.

State Representative Darren Bailey (R-Louisville) announced he will be sponsoring legislation to block Pritzker’s outrageous plan to force taxpayers through Medicaid to fund medical interventions that disrupt healthy biological processes and mutilate healthy anatomy. And State Representative Tom Morrison (R-Palatine) has sponsored legislation (HB 3515) to ban chemical and surgical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria in minors.

Tragically, there are few lawmakers at the state or national level who have the courage and wisdom to take on the “trans” ideology that wreaks havoc on the bodies and minds of men, women, and children; on families; and on the body politic. Illinoisans should support these two courageous and principled lawmakers in every way possible.

Yes, opposition to the “trans” ideology grows but not nearly fast enough. While most Christians lay low to avoid the trials God has promised us and commanded us to count as joy, the “trans” ideology lays waste to the lives and bodies of people for whom we should be willing to lay down our lives.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send a message to Governor Pritzker’s office to let his administration know that you disagree with the misuse of taxpayer funds for Medicaid so-called “gender reassignment” surgeries.  You can also voice your opinion by phone at (217) 782-6830 or (312) 814-2121.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/JB_Pride.mp3

A bold voice for pro-family values in Illinois!

Click HERE to learn about supporting IFI on a monthly basis.

As the oldest teenage daughter of IFI’s executive director, I have had the privilege of visiting Springfield for a great number of events. But this past Wednesday was perhaps the most important event I’ve volunteered for as I witnessed over four thousand pro-life Illinoisans converge on our state capitol to oppose two extreme abortion bills currently pending in the General Assembly.

The capitol rotunda was jam packed with pro-lifers, the second and third story balconies were crowded with them, and outside the Capitol building were many dozens more, waiting to get inside and make their presence and their demands known to our state lawmakers. Buses filled with concerned citizens drove in from southern Illinois, the Moline area, Freeport, the northwest suburbs and the southwest suburbs.

The rally started with a stirring hymn in the capitol rotunda, where ironically, not three months ago our Secretary of State erected a Satanic monument just opposite the Capitol Nativity Scene. But Christ’s presence was made known as the rich, powerful words of the well known hymn Amazing Grace filled the halls, from the floor of the rotunda to the third story, causing people to pause, heads to turn and hopefully a few hearts as well.

It is not surprising to note that mainstream media outlets failed to accurately report the great number of “anti-abortion protesters” in attendance on Wednesday afternoon. The fact is, Capitol police had to shut the doors because so many citizens had filled the building to capacity. And that, I am told, is a very rare occurrence.

State Representatives Terri Bryant (R-Mt.Vernon), David Severin (R-Marion), Darren Bailey (R-Olney)and Amy Grant ((R-Wheaton) were joined by Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Springfield Catholic Diocese and Rev. James Scudder, Jr., of Quentin Road Bible Church in Lake Zurich in addressing the pro-life multitude.  The crowd responded repeatedly with deafening roars of unanimous opposition to the extreme abortion legislation. I suspect that nearly everyone in the building heard the resounding chants of “No, No, No, No.”

Pro-life veterans were heartened by this response, and I have to believe that abortion proponents were made uncomfortable by the tsunami of pro-lifers that washed over Springfield that afternoon.

Yet we know all too well, the fight is not over. We must continue to apply pressure to our lawmakers and continue to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves, because the baby murder activists are certainly not going to let up any time soon.

Case in point; as I assisted in the take down of the information tables after the rally, I noticed a group of about fifteen to twenty people crowding around a woman, who was telling them it was time to drown out these women haters (a.k.a pro-lifers) and that this (the capitol) was their “house,” at which point they all began chanting: “Whose house? Our house!” followed by “Whose uterus? Our uterus!”

Take ACTION:  Please speak out!  Click HERE to send a message to your state senator, state representative and to Gov. Pritzker. Ask them to stop targeting innocent pre-born children and vulnerable women in Illinois. Ask them to vote against HB 2495 and HB 2467.

A bold voice for pro-family values in Illinois!

Click HERE to learn about supporting IFI on a monthly basis.

An Illinois lawmaker’s bill to publicly display the motto “In God We Trust” in public schools is the latest challenge to the secularism that is the status quo in many public schools across the country.  Though displaying the motto would not be mandatory, State Representative Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) says his legislation (HB 341) would encourage a return to Christian principles: “As a God-fearing Christian, I believe that the lack of such is the problem in our country today.”

This bill has three co-sponsors in the Illinois House thus far: State Representatives Andrew Chesney (R-Freeport), Chris Miller (R-Robinson) and Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville).

Illinois is the latest state with legislation that would permit the posting of “In God We Trust” in public schools.  Lawmakers in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Tennessee have recently voted to require or allow the motto to be posted in public schools.  Sheriff’s deputies in Jefferson County, Illinois, have joined the movement by voluntarily placing “In God We Trust” decals on their squad cars.  Similar bills have already been introduced this year in Alaska, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, New York and South Carolina.

Atheists like Hemant Mehta of friendlyatheist.pathos.com are outraged by attempts to refer to a Higher Power:

“We certainly don’t need religion to teach common decency and morality when it’s the Christians currently running the government who provide us with a steady stream of corrupt acts and cruel policies.”

Evidently not a very “friendly atheist.”  Critics also say the motto can be alienating to students who are not religious, and allege that it is a violation of the separation of church and state.

But that cornerstone of American secularism – the vaunted “separation of church and state” – never appears in the United States Constitution, but rather first appears in a letter written by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association dated January 1, 1802.  Jefferson’s chief concern appears to be avoiding the establishment of any denomination as the “state church.”

Garrett Epps, writing in The Atlantic, and arguing against public expressions of faith, claims that the concept of the “separation of church and state” originated not with Jefferson, but with the American theologian Roger Williams, founder of the first Baptist congregation in the British New World.  According to Epps, Williams coined the phrase in 1644 to “signify the protection that the church needed in order to prevent misuse and corruption by political leaders.”

Epps is seemingly unaware that he has undermined his own argument.  The “separation of church and state” is meant to protect the churches from government intrusion – not the populace from exposure to religious teachings.

Those who oppose the influence of Christianity in society are fond of (mis)quoting Thomas Jefferson, one of several deists among the Founding Fathers.  But deism is not atheism, and while Jefferson did not believe in supernatural revelation, he affirmed his belief in one God as well as in divine providence, the divine moral law, and in personal judgment including rewards and punishments after death.

The opponents of Christianity would also do well to study the life of George Washington, the first president of the United States.  George Washington was a devoted Anglican his entire life.  As General of the Army of the Potomac, Washington openly endorsed religious practice – this, mind you, while as a public servant.  He encouraged his soldiers to attend to their religious duties, including “to implore the blessing of Heaven” upon the nascent American Army.  Washington’s archived papers contain hundreds of biblical quotations, figures of speech, idioms, proverbs, and allusions related to his Christian faith.

George Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention of 1787 during the time when the writing of two key founding documents in American history were written: The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.  The Constitution explicates how the new United States was intended to function.  The Declaration of Independence lays out the rationale for the new nation, and in so doing mentions God four times and states that our rights come from our Creator.

It seems inconceivable that important aspects of American history are deliberately withheld from public school students – especially when the vast majority hold to a belief in God and subscribe to Christian beliefs.  A Pew Research Center survey found that “an overwhelming majority of the youngest adults continue to believe in God or a higher power: Eight-in-ten of those ages 18 to 29 say they believe in at least some kind of spiritual force.”

It is the height of duplicity to deny the posting of what was unanimously declared by the 84^th Congress to be the official national motto of the United States, and which appears on the currency in the purses and wallets of students.  The “In God We Trust” movement is a welcome reaffirmation of the Divine guidance upon which our great country was built.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send a message to your state representative to ask him/her to support and co-sponsor HB 341.  Simply acknowledging God does nothing to establish a church or a religion, but subtly points to the fact that we are dependent daily on God’s goodness, mercy and grace.

Christian Life in Exile
On February 22^nd, IFI is hosting a special forum with Dr. Erwin Lutzer as he teaches from his latest book, “The Church in Babylon,” answering the question, “How do we live faithfully in a culture that perceives our light as darkness?” This event is free and open to the public, and will be held at Jubilee Church in Medinah, Illinois.

Click HERE for more info…