Truth is, abortion is not health care. And the truth is the number of taxpayer funded abortions is increasing dramatically in Illinois following Governor Rauner’s signature on House Bill 40.

The Illinois General Assembly is winding up its work for the 2018 Spring session and will try to adjourn for the summer by Thursday, May 31st. That means that things could move very quickly over the next six days. We will try to keep you posted on the issues that concern you and your family. (As a result, you may get multiple email alerts next week.)

Even though the state of Illinois is on the brink of bankruptcy, various news reports suggest that state lawmakers are making progress toward the constitutional requirement of passing a balanced budget. Of course, the budget continues irresponsible spending and does little to address Illinois’ massive pension problem or the $8 billion of unpaid bills, which has accrued $1.14 billion in late fees.

To put this in perspective, the state expects approximately $37 billion in revenue in the 2019 fiscal year, which begins on the first of June.

A major concern with this budget has to do with the new mandate to require Illinois citizens to pay for elective abortions through state Medicaid and state employee health insurance plans.

Yes, this is the funding aspect of HB 40 which was signed into law by Governor Bruce Rauner last year. This wicked new law removes all prohibitions on using tax dollars for abortions under Medicaid and removes the ban on state employees’ insurance policies paying for abortions. Since this legislation did not contain specific funding appropriation, payment for elective abortions will come out of state Medicaid and health insurance funding.

During floor debate last year, Illinois State Representative Peter Breen (R-Lombard) warned his colleagues that HB 40 may cost taxpayers up to $60 million per year to kill an additional 10,000 to 15,000 pre-born human beings. That is in addition to the 40,000 abortions Illinois commits annually on average.

To be clear, we do not yet know how many taxpayer-funded abortions will be committed each year, but we can call upon Springfield lawmakers to vote against any budget bill (and there are multiple) that appropriate tax funds for elective abortions.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send a message to your state senator and state representative, urging them to reject any budget agreement that uses tax resources to fund abortion.

The working families of Illinois have no fiscal or moral obligation to provide the abortion industry with resources to destroy our innocent and defenseless humans.

Since the vast majority of Illinois voters have been historically against using their tax dollars for abortion, it would be wise for pro-life advocates across the state to speak out loudly (but politely) now. Moreover, we must continue to work to convince legislators at every level of government of the sanctity of life from conception to natural death.

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The Thomas More Society has now moved for an emergency injunction to be heard on Thursday, December 28, to stop State of Illinois officials from providing tens of thousands of taxpayer funded abortions in the New Year.

Additional legislators and groups will also seek to join the suit that day, including State Representative Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) and State Senator Neil Anderson (R-Rock Island). The taxpayer lawsuit, filed at the end of November in the Sangamon County Circuit Court, is brought on behalf of hundreds of thousands of Illinois taxpayers, represented by county and statewide pro-life organizations, the Springfield Catholic Diocese, and a group of Illinois legislators from across the state.

“This emergency injunction would stop a New Year’s Day implementation of this law, under which Illinois taxpayers would be forced to pay for 20,000 to 30,000 or more abortions per year,” explained Peter Breen, Thomas More Society Special Counsel. “Even apart from the sincere moral objections that many folks have to paying for abortions, there is no money in the Illinois state budget to pay for them. And, because of games played by Senate Democrats, in holding HB 40 until late September, after the May 31 cutoff for legislative action, this bill can’t be effective until June 1, certainly not on January 1.” Breen also serves as state representative for Illinois’ 48^th District.

If implemented, despite its illegality, HB 40 would force every Illinoisan to pay for free abortions for those on Medicaid. This would apply through the full nine months of pregnancy and for any reason, even when the latest scientific research has shown that the unborn child can feel pain and survive outside of its mother’s womb.

The State of Illinois has a tradition of allowing taxpayer lawsuits, which are brought by private individuals to protect the public treasury. Illinois law requires such a suit to be brought by a petition for leave to file a taxpayer complaint, which was granted by Judge Jennifer Ascher on December 6, at the last hearing in this case.

The Illinois legislators bringing the lawsuit include (italicized names are newly added):

• Representative Mark Batinick, District 97
• Representative Jeanne Ives, District 42
• Representative Charlie Meier, District 108
• Representative Steve Reick, District 63
• Representative Barbara Wheeler, District 64
• Representative Keith Wheeler, District 50
• Senator Neil Anderson, District 36
• Senator Dale Fowler, District 59
• Senator Sam McCann, District 50
• Senator Kyle McCarter, District 54
• Senator Dan McConchie, District 26
• Senator Paul Schimpf, District 58

The pro-life groups listed on the complaint include (italicized names are newly added):

• Illinois Federation for Right to Life
• Illinois Right to Life Action
• Springfield Right to Life
• Right to Life of Adams County, Inc.
• Clinton County Citizens For Life
• Henry County Right to Life, Inc.
• Knox County Right to Life, NFP
• Lake County Right to Life Committee, Inc.
• Morgan County Right to Life, Inc., NFP
• Faith and Freedom Family Ministry, NFP
• Pro-Life Action League, Inc.

The above listed legislators and groups are joined in this action by:

• Diocese of Springfield In Illinois

Read the Plaintiff’s Unopposed Motion for Leave to File a Verified Amended Taxpayer Complaint HERE.

Read the original Petition for Leave to File a Taxpayer Action to Restrain and Enjoin the Disbursement of Public Funds and the Taxpayer Complaint to Restrain and Enjoin the Disbursement of Public Funds HERE.

About the Thomas More Society

The Thomas More Society is a national not-for-profit law firm dedicated to restoring respect in law for life, family, and religious liberty. Headquartered in Chicago and Omaha, the Thomas More Society fosters support for these causes by providing high quality pro bono legal services from local trial courts all the way up to the United States Supreme Court. For more information, visit thomasmoresociety.org.

Despite his commitment to veto HB 40, Governor Bruce Rauner has approved HB 40 — which requires taxpayers to fund the intentional murder of pre-born human beings through Medicaid and state employee insurance plans.  During the 2017 Spring session of the Illinois General Assembly, Democratic lawmakers passed  House Bill 40 on a party line vote (62-55 in the House on April 25th and 33 to 22 in the Senate on May 22nd).

Based on the increased number of new Medicaid recipients in the last 5 years, Illinois taxpayers will now be complicit in the deaths of 10,000 to 15,000 more babies every year. State Rep. Peter Breen (R-Lombard) is on record saying that it may cost us up to $60 million per year!

Since the vast majority of Illinois voters have been historically against using their tax dollars for abortion, it would be wise for pro-life advocates and voters to turn these brazen tactics back against left-wing abortion fanatics – Republican or Democrat. We must continue to speak out and we must be proactive and work to convince legislators at every level of government of the sanctity of life from conception to natural death.

Click HERE to read more from Illinois Family Action, our (501c4) sister organization.

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Great news from the congressional front!

In light of the possibility that Governor Bruce Rauner may renege on his commitment to veto HB 40—the bill that would require taxpayer-funding of abortions through Medicaid and state employee insurance plans through the entire 9 months of pregnancies—and the moral gravity of such an obscene (and costly) requirement, Illinois Family Institute Executive Director David Smith sent a letter to Illinois’ Republican congressmen requesting their help in persuading Governor Rauner to veto HB 40.

Earlier today, U.S. Congressmen Peter Roskam, John Shimkus, Randy Hultgren, Adam Kinzinger, Rodney Davis, Mike Bost, and Darin LaHood sent a letter to Governor Rauner urging him to do just that:

Dear Governor Rauner:

We are writing to convey our deepest concern about House Bill 40 which has been sent to your desk.

This bill would require taxpayers to subsidize abortions for those covered by Medicaid and for those covered by state employee health insurance through the full nine months of pregnancy. This includes painful late-term abortions, even past the point at which some children could survive outside the womb if given appropriate care.  Under HB 40, there is no cap on the number of abortions that could be covered under Medicaid and no cap on the amount of taxpayer dollars spent on these procedures.  Current estimates of cost to the State range from$1.8 million to $21 million.  While Illinois faces a financial crisis, it is unwise to place such a burden on the taxpayers.

Illinois state policy has been consistent with federal protections such as the Hyde Amendment which prohibits federal funding for abortion. The Hyde Amendment saves lives – at least 2 million people are alive today thanks to 40 years of Hyde Amendment protections.  This bill is an egregious step away from those protections by requiring public funding for abortions, which will surely result in more lives lost to the tragedy of abortion.

As you have said yourself, this bill wrongfully requires taxpayers to participate in funding abortions. While the political pressure may feel extreme, we respectfully ask you to focus on the underlying issue and not waiver on your commitment to protect taxpayers as well as the most vulnerable members of our community.  We ask you to veto this harmful legislation.

David Smith emphasizes the significance of this letter, particularly in conjunction with the unanimity of opposition to HB 40 among state lawmakers:

This letter to Gov. Rauner is vitally important. The entire Illinois House Republican Caucus and Illinois Senate Republican Caucus are uniformly opposed to HB 40. Now the Illinois Republican Congressional Delegation has weighed in opposing this legislation. I can only hope and pray that this puts tremendous pressure on our Republican Governor to veto this legislation.

I hope and pray other pro-life elected leaders will also speak out. We may not be able to overturn Roe v. Wade yet, but if enough conservatives speak out and overwhelm the governor’s office, we just might protect thousands of babies from the horror of abortion in Illinois.

Though there is a legal right for women to have their offspring killed, such a “right” does not confer on the public an obligation to pay for the deaths of these tiny human beings. In addition, aiding and abetting women in killing their own children is neither just, nor merciful, nor morally defensible.

The dismissively called “social issues” are fundamental cultural issues and crucibles that determine the moral worthiness of a society. Illinois Republican lawmakers deserve our thanks for their support for the lives of humans in the womb.

Will Republican Governor Rauner stand with pro-life, small government lawmakers in Congress and the General Assembly or will he stand with pro-abortion, big government Leftists?

Take ACTION: Click Here to email Governor Bruce Rauner. Urge him to keep his pledge to veto HB 40. Also, please continue to call the governor’s public comment line every day until this is resolved: (217) 782-0244 and (312) 814-2121. 

You can also send Gov. Rauner a message via Twitter: @GovRauner

Read Congressman Peter Roskam’s press release on this issue HERE.

Listen to Laurie read this article in this podcast:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/The-Illinois-GOP-Congressional-Caucus-Responds-to-HB-40.mp3

PLEASE consider a financial gift to IFI to sustain our work.
We’ve stood firm for 25 years, work diligently to accomplish our mission to
“boldly bring a biblical perspective to public policy” in Illinois.

If signed into law by Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner, HB 40, which passed in both the Illinois House and Senate, will force taxpayers to subsidize abortions for women on Medicaid and for women covered by state employee health insurance.

Feticidal maniacs in Illinois—including lawmakers—are desperate to have Rauner sign this bill into law. They reason that since abortion is legal, the public should subsidize it. Leftists believe all Illinois taxpayers should pay for poor women’s and state employees’ choices to have their unborn children killed. Ironically, while Leftists command that men never express an opinion on abortion, Leftists also say male taxpayers should fund abortion. Word to Leftists:

1.) Those tiny humans growing inside women get half their DNA from men.

2.) The issue of whether the product of conception between two humans is a human with rights is a human rights issue—not exclusively a women’s issue.

3.) There are no criteria that Leftists can manufacture to defend the right of some humans to snuff out the lives of other humans that apply only to incipient human lives. Whether those criteria are intrinsic or extrinsic to humans in the womb, they all can be applied to humans who escaped the torture chamber that the womb has become. Intrinsic criteria such as immature development, dependency status, lack of sentience, or lack of perfection apply to humans outside the womb as well. Extrinsic criteria such as being considered a financial or emotional burden also apply to humans outside the womb.

4.) According to Leftists, men can have wombs, menstruate, become pregnant, and give birth, and, therefore, abortion is a men’s issue.

5.) Using the language of “rights,” feticide-defenders are appealing to the respect Americans have for “negative rights”—also known as liberties—(e.g., the right to vote, assemble, exercise one’s religion, and speak freely), which are not accompanied by any obligation for others to subsidize them. But what feticide-defenders are really suggesting—without explicitly saying—is that women have a “positive right” (i.e., an entitlement) to abortion, which imposes a duty on others to subsidize it. Abortion, however, is not an entitlement, and society has no obligation to pay for women to get them. Neither wanting something; nor really, really wanting something; nor experiencing suffering from not obtaining this desperately desired thing means the public has an obligation to provide it.

7.) We, as a benevolent society, have created safety nets to provide for basic health care for those who are unable to provide for it themselves. No matter how many times feticide-defenders call the killing of incipient human life “health care,” it’s not. Killing human fetuses is neither health care nor reproduction. It’s death facilitation and anti-reproduction. If Leftists want to help poor women and state employees kill their offspring, they have the choice and negative right to do so.

In an editorial appearing in Crain’s Chicago Business, K. Sujata, president and CEO of the Chicago Foundation for Women (CFW), frets about the implications of an HB 40 veto. She worries about the economic interests of pregnant women, many of whom choose to have sex when they can’t afford or don’t want to provide for the needs of humans who may result from their choice to have sex:

HB40 also removes restrictions on reproductive health care coverage that put women’s economic security at risk…. In order for women and their families to achieve full economic security, all women in Illinois must be able to make the important decision of when to start or grow their family.

Do Illinoisans really have a moral obligation to provide for the “full economic security” of state employees? Do Illinoisans really have a moral obligation to pay for the destruction of the tiny family members already growing inside of poor women?

And how does killing humans—including female humans—whose lives are just beginning fulfill this core principle of the Chicago Foundation for Women:

We believe that equality is a universal human right, and we uphold respect and dignity as guiding principles in all our work.

If Leftists really believe that more developed, sentient, able-bodied, and cognitively superior humans have the right to exterminate less-developed and cognitively and physically impaired humans whose self-awareness is diminished or absent, then they are kindred spirits with Princeton University bio-unethicist Peter Singer who makes the same argument but applies it to post-natal humans as well. What possible ethical difference do a few days or few inches of birth canal make in terms of the right to kill?

Remember ten years ago when Hillary Clinton expressed her belief that abortion should be “safe, legal, and rare. And by rare, I mean rare“? Northwestern University law professor Andrew Koppelman expressed the same sentiment during a forum at Northwestern Law School several years ago. When I asked why abortion should be rare if incipient human life is so devoid of personhood as to be undeserving of even minimal constitutional protection, he had no answer.

If Leftists really wanted abortion to be rare, they wouldn’t be fighting tooth and nail for the passage of HB 40, which, it is estimated, will result in an additional 15,000 abortions each year at taxpayer expense.

But no one actually believes Leftists care about whether abortion is rare or common. To them destroying human fetuses is no different from excising tumors.

Wombs should be sanctuary spaces and no-kill people shelters where all humans are safe. Governor Rauner should kill HB 40.

Take ACTION: Click Here to email Governor Bruce Rauner. Urge him to keep his pledge to veto HB 40. Also, please continue to call the governor’s public comment line every day until this is resolved: (217) 782-0244 and (312) 814-2121. 

You can also send Gov. Rauner a message via Twitter: @GovRauner

Listen to Laurie read this article in this podcast:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/2Kill-HB-40-Wombs-Should-Be-Sanctuary-Spaces-and-No-Kill-Shelters.mp3

PLEASE consider a financial gift to IFI to sustain our work.
We’ve stood firm for 25 years, work diligently to accomplish our mission to
“boldly bring a biblical perspective to public policy” in Illinois.

If signed into law by Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner, HB 40, which passed in both the Illinois House and Senate, will force taxpayers to subsidize abortions for women on Medicaid and for women covered by state employee health insurance.

Feticidal maniacs in Illinois—including lawmakers—are desperate to have Rauner sign this bill into law. They reason that since abortion is legal, the public should subsidize it. Leftists believe all Illinois taxpayers should pay for poor women’s and state employees’ choices to have their unborn children killed. Ironically, while Leftists command that men never express an opinion on abortion, Leftists also say male taxpayers should fund abortion. Word to Leftists…

Read MORE…

Two important pieces of legislation are awaiting Governor Bruce Rauner‘s action — to sign, or to veto — and both bills should be vetoed!

For him to do this, he needs to hear from the Illinois’ pro-life and pro-family community.  He needs to hear from all of us, and the sooner the better.

The top priority right now is getting calls and emails in opposition to HB 1785 — which arrived on the governor’s desk on June 29th after passing the Illinois House by a vote of 63-43 and the Illinois Senate by a vote of 32-22.

This legislation would allow gender-dysphoric persons to falsify their birth certificates, which are both legal and historical documents. This will have consequences with regard to the relentless cultural assault on physical privacy through the sexual integration of previously sex-segregated spaces.

When IFI’s Laurie Higgins wrote about this bill earlier this year, her title said it all: “Corrupt, Nonsensical Legislation Reintroduced.” If you haven’t read it yet, we highly recommend that you do.

Among many other negative impacts, biologically intact men will have legal access to women’s restrooms, locker rooms, dressing rooms, shelters, semi-private hospital rooms, nursing home rooms, and prisons.

Governor Rauner must act to veto this nonsense by August 28, 2017 or it will automatically become law.

Secondly: We need pro-life advocates to continue to speak out against HB 40, a bill that would remove all restrictions on taxpayer funding of abortion.  This bill has passed both the Illinois House by a vote of 62-55 and in the Illinois Senate by a vote of 33-22.  A procedural motion has delayed it from being sent to the Governor’s desk, which gives us more time to speak out against it.

One of the many fake news narratives that Leftist love to promote is the phony “war on women.” With sixty million abortions since Roe v. Wade’s passage, one could easily make the case that we have seen a forty-plus-year real war on the preborn.

On July 4th, Governor Rauner vetoed a tax increase; he can and should veto HB 40 and HB 1785 as well.

Take ACTION:  Click Here to send an email or a fax to Governor Rauner’s office to urge him to veto both HB 1785 and HB 40.  Ask him to reject transgender birth certificates and taxpayer funding for abortion.

ALSO: please call the public comment lines in the Governor’s office in Springfield: (217) 782-0244 and Chicago (312) 814-2121.

No to taxpayer funding of abortion, and corrupt, nonsensical legislation for falsifying a legal document.

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The General Assembly may have adjourned for the summer, but the legislative process is far from finished.  HB 40, which forces taxpayers to pay for Medicaid abortions, must be stopped at the governor’s desk. So, once again, we call your attention to this important issue.  

As you may remember, the Illinois Senate passed HB 40 on May 10th by a vote of 33-22, and on that very same day, Illinois Senator Don Harmon (D-Chicago) — who voted in favor of this anti-baby bill — filed a “motion to reconsider.” This is a procedural action that delays the bill from being sent to the governor’s office for his consideration.  There is no time restrictions on his motion. He can sit on it as long as he desires.

On its website, the ACLU of Illinois claims that this procedure “will allow the governor more time to carefully consider the bill and hopefully to reconsider his position.” In other words, pro-abortion activists and their Leftist allies are ramping up the pressure on Gov. Rauner in hopes that he will cave into their pressure and allow the bill to become law.

Responsible pro-life citizens of the state must also keep the pressure on Governor Rauner as the bill eventually moves to his desk.  We cannot remain silent during this time, and allow left-wing abortion activists to drown us out.

Take ACTION: Click Here to email Governor Bruce Rauner. Urge him to keep his pledge to veto HB 40. Also, please continue to call the governor’s public comment line every day until this is resolved: (217) 782-0244 and (312) 814-2121.

Additional problems with this bill:

HB 40 adds abortion coverage to state employees’ insurance plans which, as taxpayers, you will also pay for.

HB 40 is a spending bill that expands entitlements. Illinois owes $10 billion in unpaid bills with tens of billions more in unfunded liabilities. Illinois has the lowest credit rating in the nation because we can’t pay our bills.

Thank you for persevering!

And let us not grow weary of doing good,
for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
~Galatians 6:9

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Late Wednesday afternoon, HB 40 passed in the Illinois State Senate by a vote of 33-22. Thirty votes are needed for passage in the Illinois Senate. This bill was passed with a party-line vote by the Democratic majority without one Republican vote, and four Democrats not voting on this controversial proposal.

Click HERE to see how your state senator voted on this legislation, or look at the graphic below. (Look up your state elected officials HERE.)

Just a few weeks ago, on April 25th, it was passed by the Illinois House by a vote of 62-55.

Now that it has passed in both chambers, Governor Bruce Rauner will have 60 days to keep his pledge to veto it, once it reaches his desk. If he does nothing, it automatically becomes law.

**UPDATE:  A motion to reconsider has been made, which delays the process, however, we fully expect HB 40 being sent to the governor’s desk, despite political posturing and tactical schemes.

IFI’s concerns remain:

HB 40 forces taxpayers to pay for Medicaid abortions. In 1977, there were over 12,7000 taxpayer-funded Medicaid abortions. Based on the increased number of new Medicaid recipients in the last 5 years, Illinois taxpayers could be forced to pay for over 15,000 abortions per year.

HB 40 removes the policy statement in the Abortion Law of 1975, that an unborn child is a person.

HB 40 adds abortion coverage to state employees’ insurance plans which, as taxpayers, you also pay for.

HB 40 targets minorities. Blacks make up 30%, Latinos – 16% and Asians – 5% of the Medicaid recipients in Illinois. Combined, they are 51% of the Medicaid recipients.

HB 40 is a spending bill that expands entitlements. Illinois owes $10 billion in unpaid bills with tens of billions more in unfunded liabilities. Illinois has the lowest credit rating in the nation because we can’t pay our bills.

It’s outrageous that Illinois lawmakers would spend money we don’t have to kill unborn children!

Take ACTION: Click Here to email Governor Bruce Rauner. Urge him to keep his pledge to veto HB 40. Also, call the governor’s public comment lines: (217) 782-0244 and (312) 814-2121.

How Did They Vote?

The 100^th General Assembly is well underway in Springfield. Our state lawmakers have introduced more than 6,000 bills since January 11th when they were sworn in, and they still have two and a half months to go before they adjourn for the summer. Many of these proposals are working their way through the legislative process. Over the next few weeks, bills will be scheduled for committee hearings and then possibly called for a vote in their chamber of origin before they are heard and debated in the other chamber.

There are a number of bills on our radar screen this session. Click HERE to download and print a PDF list of the major bills that IFI is working on during this part of the legislative session. We have included a brief synopsis to alert you about the status of these bills and the action you can take to support or oppose them.  We will send out alerts with more details at the appropriate time during this process. The legislative process is very fluid, bills often times stall or are amended in ways that change our concerns or support. We do not want to exasperate our subscribers with unnecessary calls to action.

Our highest priority is to stop taxpayer-funding for abortion from getting passed in the Illinois House. This atrocious proposal, HB 40, has twenty-five co-sponsors and is on third reading, which means it could be called at any time.

[T]he unborn child is a human being from the time of conception and is, therefore, a legal person for the purposes of the unborn child’s right to life and is entitled to the right to life from conception under the laws and Constitution of this State. Further, the General Assembly finds and declares that longstanding policy of this State to protect the right to life of the unborn child from conception by prohibiting abortion unless necessary to preserve the life of the mother is impermissible only because of the decisions of the United States Supreme Court and that, therefore, if those decisions of the United States Supreme Court are ever reversed of modified or the United States Constitution is amended to allow protection of the unborn then the former policy of this State to prohibit abortions unless necessary for the preservation of the mother’s life shall be reinstated.

We want to encourage calls as well. The Springfield Capitol switchboard number is (217) 782-2000.

Please also continue to pray for God’s leading and direction for our political leaders and lawmakers. Pray that God moves the hearts of our elected officials!

Thank you for your interest in our state government and
for caring enough about the families in Illinois to speak out.

IFI depends on the support of readers like you. Donate now.

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As you know, over the past few weeks we have seen a flurry of political activity in both Washington D.C. and Springfield. We expect this whirwind to continue through much of the spring.

With the election of Donald Trump as president, we have seen the agitated Left organize their base of  pro-abortion feminists and Leftist allies. They are highly motivated, looking for any opportunity to push back wherever and whenever they can.

The energy and momentum can be seen and felt in Springfield, where pro-life lawmakers are privately expressing their concerns about the lack of energy from the Illinois pro-life community, especially as it relates to trying to stop HB 40, the bill that will permit tax-funding for abortion under Medicaid and through state government insurance policies. In fact, one conservative lawmaker told us that he has received more calls in favor of this terrible bill than calls in opposition.

Passage of HB 40 would translate into tens of thousands of additional abortions in Illinois every year. As explained in an earlier article, this law would result in a disproportionate number of black and brown babies being killed.

Take ACTION:  Click HERE to send a message to your state representative, urging him/her to vote NO on HB 40. Also, please call your state representative next week to remind him/her that you do not want to have our tax-dollars used to abort innocent pre-born human beings. The Capitol switchboard  is (217) 782-2000.

Former State Representative Cal Skinner correctly points out that “in a year when the budget is in more trouble than at any time in the last fifty years, it is not the time to force state agencies to spend more money than last year.” The state of Illinois is not in a position to pay for new entitlement programs, let alone a new program that denies a pre-born person his or her civil right to live.

Bulletin Insert:  Ask your pastor to share this new bulletin insert with your congregation.  The body of Christ and people of faith must speak out now.

Call to Action Bulletin Insert

More ACTION:  Contact your like-minded family and neighbors and let them know that they should speak out against these radical proposals. Forward this article to them.  Also, post your opinions on Facebook and Twitter.

Please also pray that this bill will not get the support it needs to pass out of the Illinois House of Representatives.

Help us spread the word and activate other pro-lifers
by making a tax-deductible donation to IFI:

Here is some bad news: Illinoisans who support the use of your money to pay for abortions have been calling their legislators asking them to support HB 40. A vote on this bill could come at any time.

The good news is that this legislation can be defeated, but your help and prayers are needed immediately. Your local state legislators need to hear from you and everyone you can encourage to call or email their legislative offices.

Here is part of a statement issued by Brian Burch, who is the president of CatholicVote.org:

“We have been following the developments surrounding H.B. 40, a new spending bill pending before the Illinois General Assembly that, if passed, would authorize the use of state dollars to fund abortion services for qualified Medicaid recipients. Should Governor Rauner sign the bill as it is currently written, pro-life voters will be left with no choice but to oppose his candidacy next year.

. . .

“We have been in conversation with pro-life groups around the state. The overwhelming consensus is that support for any legislation that would coerce Illinois taxpayers into directly funding abortion would disqualify him from receiving their support.

“The state owes $10 billion in unpaid bills, with tens of billions more in unfunded liabilities. Yet now politicians want to spend scarce state resources to pay for abortions. Rauner’s support of this reckless bill would rip apart the Republican Party and destroy any chance of his re-election.

“Let me be clear. If Governor Rauner signs the bill as written, we will urge our members along with every pro-life voter in the state to support an alternative candidate — or to abstain from voting for his re-election. And we won’t be the only group doing so.”

Those are some pretty tough words–words that the Illinois Family Institute and its sister organization Illinois Family Action applaud. We would like to see that threat extended to any member of the General Assembly that votes to use taxpayer dollars to fund abortions.

Cultural issues writer Laurie Higgins explains why IFI supports the position of CatholicVote.org:

IFI wholeheartedly agrees with CatholicVote.org’s commitment to opposing Governor Rauner’s re-election bid should he support HB 40.

There is no more critical human rights issue than the issue of protecting incipient human life from intentional destruction in the womb. The moral offense of legalized feticide is compounded when the hard-earned money of taxpayers is used to fund the killing of humans.

Neither the state of development, dependency status, imperfections, or location of human beings grants to other humans the moral right to end their lives. When the reproductive rights of women come into direct conflict with the right of their offspring to exist, the right to existence takes precedence in that it is a right of a higher moral order.

Any government leader who doesn’t recognize the intrinsic value and rights of all humans doesn’t deserve the support of citizens or public office.

We agree with this statement from eminent legal scholar Professor Robert George:

Maintaining and solidifying the pro-life…stance of the Republican Party is critical. That’s why tactical voting, including voting for bad Democrats over bad Republicans, is IN CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES (e.g., where the election of a Democrat does not jeopardize Republican control of a legislative house), morally legitimate and perhaps even advisable. We must not let the pro-abortion…movements strengthen their positions in the Republican Party.

We can make a difference, but only if our legislators hear from their pro-life constituents. We hope to convince enough of them not to vote for this big-government, big-abortion bill. We must prevent the sponsor of this legislation from getting enough “yea” votes to pass it.

Our failure to act with as much energy as the other side too often is the difference between victory or defeat–and in this case life or death.

Here is Cardinal Blase Cupich, the Archbishop of Chicago, weighing in on HB 40:

We have raised our voices in the past for those who have no voice, whether they be the
immigrant or the refugee, the poor, or the unemployed. We now need to speak for the children in the womb, who are the weakest among us.

We need to let our elected officials know that taxpayers should not be forced to fund the
taking of human life. In fact, tax money should be used to fund prenatal services for the poor
and child care for working mothers, as well as expand health-care options for those in need.
Please join me in advocating for all life by urging your state representative to reject HB 40 and work instead to pass a budget that funds all essential services.

You can read Cardinal Cupich’s entire letter here, and the statement by CatholicVote.org President Brian Burch here.

Take ACTION: Please send a message to your state representative to ask him/her to vote AGAINST this pro-abortion bill. This legislation is HB 40 – a bill that would authorize the use of tax dollars to pay for abortions in Illinois through Medicaid and state government health care insurance plans. It is sponsored by State Representative Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago).  This bill would reverse the current law which bans taxpayer funding of abortion under Medicaid.

Please also call your state representative during the week to make sure he/she knows how important this issue is to you and your family. The Capitol switchboard number is (217) 782-2000.

Pray for the ultimate demise of HB 40 and all anti-life legislation.

This time of year is usually extremely busy as lawmakers in Springfield and Washington D.C. introduce a many new legislative proposals. Over the next several weeks, IFI will be sending out email alerts asking for your responses to a variety of pro-family concerns. We not only ask for your patience but also for your perseverance and diligence in speaking out on these matters. Your voice in the public square and in the inboxes of your elected officials is absolutely vital.

Today, we have three items regrading the sanctity of life to bring to your attention:

Taxpayer Funding of Abortion

The most urgent matter: Click HERE to send a message to your state representative asking him/her to vote “no” to HB 40, the bill that would have our taxes pay for abortions under public aid and through state government insurance policies.

Passage of HB 40 would translate into tens of thousands of additional abortions in Illinois every year. More than 40,000 abortions are performed in Illinois annually.  HB 40 would push that number to well over 50,000 annual abortions.

This legislation may be voted on this week, so your state representative needs to hear from you right away.  Please let him/her know that you do not want your tax dollars funding abortion.  (Read more HERE.)

Defund Planned Parenthood

As you know, last year through the release of undercover videos by the Center for Medical Progress, we learned of the likelihood that Planned Parenthood has been committing the horrific and illegal practice of mutilating babies “born alive” for the purpose of selling their body parts for profit. (Read more here, here and here.)

Despite these gruesome revelations, the U.S. Congress has yet to respond.

This year we have an enormous opportunity that we cannot waste. We have a strong pro-life majority in Washington D.C., and a new pro-life president in the White House! Now there is absolutely no excuse for the continued funding of this despicable organization.

In order to stop the flow of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars into Planned Parenthood–the nation’s large abortion provider–we must make our voices heard and put immense pressure on our federal lawmakers to act.

Within the next few weeks, IFI will be delivering thousands of petitions to our United States Congress to demand an end to the use of our tax dollars to fund abortions.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to sign our petition to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, urging them to take whatever steps are necessary to defund this deceptive abortion-provider. Our tax dollars should not be used to subsidize any so-called “health” organization that  provides abortions, harvests organs, or traffics in human body parts.

Pro-Life Billboards

Illinois Family Institute is partnering with other pro-life advocates to reach and challenge millions of our neighbors about abortion. We are putting up pro-life billboards with the simple and bold statement “Abortion Takes Human Life,” but we need your financial partnership to make this a success.

In 2016, pro-life advocates reached 8.8 million views in Cook and DuPage Counties with this message. These billboards circumvent the biased media, going straight to the people and receiving an overwhelmingly positive response from the public. We want to build on that success in 2017. This is an opportunity to lead our culture away from abortion and toward life. Changing our culture requires bold and clear communication that reaches a large audience. This is an opportunity to save mothers and babies from abortion. Many who see these billboards will someday play a role in deciding whether or not they will abort an innocent baby. We can reach them before they’re tempted by abortion.

Click HERE to make a donation to raise funds to place these billboards throughout the Chicagoland area and then throughout the state of Illinois. We need your help to reach our culture with this life-affirming message.

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Pro-life advocate Chris Iverson noted this fact in an article here at IFI recently:

The U.S. abortion rate is the lowest in recorded history! The Guttmacher Institute found that there were 14.6 abortions for every 1,000 women aged 15-44 in 2014. That’s lower than the abortion rate in 1973 (when the Roe v. Wade case was decided) and every year since then.

Republicans in Washington, D.C. are taking steps to defund Planned Parenthood and prevent the use of federal taxdollars for abortions.

Illinois Democrats are going in the opposite direction. State Representative Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago) has re-introduced legislation that would remove all prohibitions on taxpayer funding of abortions through HB 40. Here is the Illinois Citizens for Life:

For decades, Illinois has had a public policy of not paying for abortions under the Medicaid assistance program except for life of the mother. Court decisions have added “health” and rape and incest. The Illinois law went to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1979 and was upheld in its entirety in 1980.

Survey after survey has shown that a clear majority of Illinoisans, even those who say they are pro-choice, do not want their tax dollars paying for abortions.

HB 40 would remove this ban and require taxpayer funding of abortions for any reason throughout the full nine months of pregnancy. If this bill passed into law, the thousands of these abortions added [estimated at 15,000 or more each year] would be paid for only with state taxpayer dollars, since the federal government prohibits paying for abortions other than for life, rape and incest.

Pro-life lobbyist Ralph Rivera says that there would be no limit to the number of abortions a woman could have using tax-dollars, and the abortion could be for any reason through all 9 months of the pregnancy. There would also be no age restriction, so minors would be eligible for taxpayer funded abortions.

A large part of the targeted population in HB 40 is those who are covered under Medicaid. The website Illinois Health Matters provides a breakdown on the “Demographics of the Medicaid Population,” noting that “about 600,000 Illinois residents age 19 to 64 with low income became eligible for Medicaid.”

According to Illinois Citizens for Life, the year the Illinois Law was passed that prohibited taxpayer funding, “over 12,000 abortions were paid for under Medicaid with tax dollars.” Since the number of abortions was substantially higher when tax-dollars were used, it should be expected that more abortions will be performed once the restriction is removed. One question that follows is who is going to be having those abortions? Note these numbers:

• Blacks make up 30 percent of the Medicaid recipients in Illinois while they are 14 percent of the whole.
• Latinos make up 16 percent of the Medicaid recipients in Illinois while they are 16 percent of the whole.
• Asians make up 5 percent of the Medicaid recipients in Illinois while they are 5 percent of the whole.

Since 51 percent of the Medicaid recipients in Illinois are minorities, whether it is intended or not, the passage of HB 40 will increase the number of abortions in the minority community.

A bit of history is important here. IFI contributor Tami Jackson wrote in an article titled “Margaret Sanger’s Dream Come True: Eugenics by Abortion”:

[Margaret] Sanger was a nurse and a birth control advocate in the early 20th century. But more importantly, she formed the organization, American Birth Control League, which would eventually become Planned Parenthood.

. . .

[She] espoused sinister motives for advancing birth control and abortion: she fully endorsed eugenics for the betterment of race and society.

Sanger was a Darwinist who embraced a utilitarian view of human life, and proposed to rid our nation of the criminal element and “inferior races” through abortion and breeding programs.

Margaret Sanger was born in 1879 and died in 1966, so this issue is not new. Today, Sanger is seen as a feminist hero and the Democratic Party supports full funding for Planned Parenthood.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send a message to your state to ask him/her to vote AGAINST this pro-abortion bill.  Ask them to consider how abortion providers and eugenicists are promoting abortion to destroy the innocent pre-born human lives of black and brown babies.