We know that the many cultural battles we face today are spiritual battles that cannot be won by relying solely on our own strength and methods. In truth, these battles must first and continually be waged through prayer to our holy, righteous and merciful God.

Ephesians 6:10-13

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.  Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 

2 Corinthians 10:3-5

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 

Many believe that our compiled problems in this state are a result of apathy, inaction (past and present) and unrepentant sin within the Body of Christ.

And while we celebrate the Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Center decision in June, and praise God that Roe v. Wade is no longer the “law of the land,” we realize that Illinois is fast becoming the abortion mecca of the Midwest. Planned Parenthood and other abortion cheerleaders are already opening up new death centers near the borders to accommodate out-of-state victims.

Our state lawmakers seem to want to secure future Planned Parenthood clients with the passage of SB 818 last year, which requires the teaching of depraved “comprehensive” sex-education to impressionable young children in kindergarten through 12th grade in Illinois public schools. Make no mistake, these lessons will encourage our young people to engage in early risky and sinful sexual activity that will only damage them emotionally, physically and spiritually. It is why Democratic state lawmakers also repealed the Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act (HB 370) last year. I, for one, am convinced that our foolish and defiled lawmakers are happy to foster an environment that will result in more victims and more blood-money for the abortion industry.

And how about our political corruption problem? From 1970 to 2010, about 1,500 people in Illinois were convicted for corruption. The lack of honest and wise public servants (yes, there are a few) has had devastating consequences: Illinois is ranked 50th for fiscal policy; 45th in unemployment; 3rd in unfunded pension liabilities; 1st in failing schools; has one of the highest sales tax in the nation; the most judges indicted (operations Greylord & Gambat); 32 Chicago Alderman and over 1,000 state and municipal employees in addition to 5 of our last 9 elected governors indicted. That’s more indictments than the other 49 states combined!

The spiritual battle between good and evil — between truth and lies — is ongoing and formidable. Young girls and their unborn babies are victimized by abortion; young children are taught that sexual activity is expected of them and perversion is normal; marriage and parental rights are under assault; addictions are promoted; government schools have become indoctrination camps; gender specific nouns and pronouns are being eliminated; and now some insist that we believe that men can get pregnant.

Isaiah 5:20

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

Can you see the connection between what we condone in the natural and what is taking place in the spiritual? It’s only through fervent prayer and a return to Him by His people that we will begin to see God change our culture.

When you read God’s promise in 2 Chronicles to heal our land IF Christians repent and pray, there’s no denying that our current state of affairs is the responsibility of the Church and that our land is in desperate need of a healing that only God can bring.

2 Chronicles 7:14

…if My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 

And through our resolve to seek Him and live holy lives He promises to provide everything we need.

Matthew 6:33

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

God is waiting for His people to turn to Him. He promises that if we pray according to His will, He hears us. Our God reigns, and the battle is His!

1 John 5:14-15

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him.

There’s nothing too big that He can’t correct. God clearly has the answer to the compounding Illinois crises.

Ephesians 3:20-21

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! 

James 5:6

The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Illinois Family Institute (IFI) is a ministry that trusts and stands upon God’s Word, striving to obey and believing that our ministry actions and purpose cannot be accomplished without fervent prayer and fasting. That is why our IFI Prayer Team must always be a vital and permanent part of our ministry and that is why we are asking you to join us.

The IFI Prayer Team will be asked to regularly pray for our troubled state, our legislators and local officials, as well as the ministry needs of IFI, and more. Prayer requests will include public policy issues, praying for elected officials, and various statewide needs as the Holy Spirit may lead.

IFI will communicate specific prayer needs to the IFI Prayer Team by email on a timely basis and communicate answered prayer or prayer updates so that praise and thanksgiving is also a vital element.

We can’t do it without God and He won’t do it without us.

If you pray and believe that God hears and answers prayer, will you join the IFI Prayer Team?

Click HERE to join. You will soon start receiving specific prayer requests as well as the names of legislators for which you can pray.

Thank you and God bless you!

Call the IFI office at (708) 781-9328

On June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court of the United States overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision which fabricated the “right to privacy,” making abortion legal throughout the nation.

The case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, centered around a Mississippi law that banned abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy and has now put the battle to save pre-born human lives at the state level. It is no longer a protected “right” at the federal level. The case was decided by a 6 to 3 decision and means that the only abortion clinic in Mississippi will have to shut it’s doors when the state’s trigger law banning abortions takes effect in July.

Within the first few pages of the 213-page decision, Justice Samuel Alito stated there is no constitutional right to abortion. There is no federal protection of a civil “right” to kill pre-born babies.

Illinois Family Institute celebrates the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and the 1992 Casey v. Planned Parenthood that established that states cannot ban pre-viability abortions, i.e., those done before a child can survive outside the womb.

Governor J.B. Pritzker has made it abundantly clear that he intends to make the state of Illinois an abortion sanctuary. He, with the help of pro-abortion legislators, intends to force Illinois taxpayers to pay for all abortions.

Illinois Democrats have already removed all safeguards in the Land of Lincoln by repealing the Parental Notice of Abortion law.

Now they want physician assistants, nurses, and midwives along with other healthcare personnel to be legally able to commit abortions in Illinois in order to accommodate the flood of women coming across state lines. And several companies are offering to pay for women to travel to abortion states to kill their babies. Some pro-life leaders think that Illinois abortion numbers will increase by 25k to 30k a year.

In the ABC Nightly News segment below, they highlight the abortion mill in Fairview Heights and rightly point out that they are at the epicenter of this spiritual and political battle. In her report, Rachel Scott claims “the phones keep ringing. The staff are helping out-of-state patience secure transportation and hotels.” Dr. Colleen McNicholas admits that they are ground zero of this battle between life and death. She pridefully reports that they are facilitating the death of an unborn human being for women in “Tennessee, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Mississippi.”

Our work to protect life is just beginning. Abortion cheerleaders are determined to make Illinois the destination point for the Midwest. Proverbs 24:11 exhorts us to “deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter.” We MUST respond with the love and compassion of Jesus Christ to rescue innocent children and their mothers.

Illinois Family Institute upholds the sanctity of life from conception to natural death. Please join us in the fight to protect the most innocent among us.

With the U.S. Supreme Court announcing it will be issuing opinions starting this week, we may have a final decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health – the case that should overturn Roe v. Wade. Should this occur, and after nearly 50 years of bloodshed of the innocent and unborn, rejoicing will abound!

Not to dump buckets of cold water on our rejoicing, but the reality for constituents in Illinois is this will be the time to “not be weary in well-doing,” but to soldier on and turn our attention more than ever to being vocal, educating those around us, and applying pressure to our elected representatives.

The timing couldn’t be more perfect either– as dozens of our legislative representatives are running for re-election, and may be more inclined to listen to their constituents’ concerns. What’s more, with a bit of courageous boldness on our part, our quasi pro-life friends and neighbors who, rather than select a candidate based on a “single-issue,” might be persuaded that this “single-issue” is THE issue forming the basis of our society. This truth could also motivate the otherwise “too busy to vote” crowd to get out and cast a ballot.

As we have these conversations, it’s helpful to be reminded of what makes a good legislature: lawmaking coupled with a balancing of power and representing one’s constituents–most important in a representative republic! So, what DO the voters of Illinois want from their lawmakers?

Given the fact that Illinois has recently passed radical pro-abortion legislation such as taxpayer funding [2018] and removed all abortion restrictions including parental notification [2021], our legislature has clearly not represented the majority viewpoint of Illinois voters on these issues.

A statewide poll of Illinois voters in March of 2021 commissioned by One Nation Under God Foundation and Illinois Family Institute, conducted by the Tarrance Group, helps to answer the question of what “we the people of Illinois” want in terms of these issues.

Here are a few of the key responses to the survey:

If a minor under the age of 18 is seeking an abortion, do you think the law should require her parent or guardian to be notified before the procedure? Overall 72% voted “yes.

56%        Yes (strongly)
16%        Yes
22%        No
6%          Undecided

Would you say that the government is taking away too many rights from parents and preventing parents from raising children in an appropriate way?

67%        Yes
28%        No
5%          Undecided                 

Taxpayer funding of abortion.  We did not poll this question, however, other Illinois polls place opposition to taxpayer funding at around 65%.

It’s  easy to feel alone in the crowd, isn’t it? You’re one small voice in the community, right? Actually, these statistics indicate nothing could be further from the truth! An overwhelming majority of Illinois voters are on the side of life, parental rights, and family.

This fact was driven home last night as I sat in a Precinct Committeeman training meeting. A roomful of Illinoisans, most of whom had never met before, found camaraderie over these issues that are affecting our state. Finding others that are like-minded helped to fan the flame of my courage to get vocal in a bold and courageous way.

We rejoice in the likelihood of the overturning of Roe v. Wade so that the abortion issue can be returned to where it belongs – the states. It is a victory to be celebrated for sure. It will be a gift from above, but in Illinois, it might be a temporary gift if we don’t get busy in “well-doing.”

Get equipped!

-Click here to access the 2022 Primary Election Voter Resources.

-Click here to read about the connection between Common Law, Abortion, and Nuremberg. It might be a good talking point with your neighbors as you seek to inform.

Written by Penny Pullen

It’s hard to believe that our lawmakers in Springfield would be in favor of cutting parents out of the life of their daughters at a time when they most need their parent’s counsel. But that is just what a group of legislators – one of whom is the Speaker of the Illinois House – are proposing in HB 1797 and SB 2190 in the Illinois Senate.

The bill would repeal the Parental Notice of Abortion Act of 1995, a law which took a bipartisan group of legislators years to enact because of powerful resistance from the abortion lobby. Finally, in 2013, the law was enforced and since then has saved thousands of unborn children from the horrors of abortion.

The abortion lobby’s chief goal for 2021 is to dispose of Illinois’ essential Parental Notice law, having already achieved elimination of such sensible laws as the ban on partial-birth abortion, which protected late-term developing babies from a gruesome and painful surgical abortion.

This proposal is so radical, even many voters who call themselves “pro-choice” are disturbed by the idea of cutting parents out of one of the most challenging times a minor girl might be facing.

Constituents must insist their state lawmakers oppose HB 1797 and SB 2190, or any other slick attempt to repeal Illinois’ Parental Notice of Abortion Act.

Please, for our the sake of our daughters and for the next generation, contact them today. And pass this message along to friends, to encourage them to weigh in as well.

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

Bulletin Insert

Take Action: Click HERE to contact your state lawmakers. Let them know that gutting or repealing the Parental Notice of Abortion Act is unacceptable. Ask them to oppose any and all efforts to repeal or amend the law and, instead, uphold parental rights.

More Action: Look up your state representative at Officials Finder. Or, if you know his/her name, you can ask to be connected to his/her office through the State Capitol switchboard at (217) 782-2000.

Instructions to File a Witness Slip to Oppose HB 1797. Click HERE.

Section I. Enter your name, address, city and zip code. You can leave Firm/Business and Title blank. If it won’t allow you to leave them black, enter self.

Section II. Leave it blank if you are not representing a group, etc., or enter self.

Section III. Check that you are an Opponent.

Section IV. Unless you are filing a written statement, select Record of Appearance Only.

Agree to the terms of agreement by checking the box.

Click Create (Slip).

We would also ask you to please share this short video clip on social media:

Penny Pullen is president of Life Advocacy Resource Project and a nationally recognized advocate for Life. She served 16 years in the Illinois House, where she was chief spokesman for the right to life, for home-based education and generally, for pro-family policies. 

For 14 years, Penny served on the board of the American Legislative Exchange Council and served throughout its duration on the board of Project Reality, the abstinence-centered education pioneer. She has also served as president of Eagle Forum of Illinois and of two local Republican women’s clubs, one of which she founded. Immediately after leaving public office, she launched the Illinois Family Institute, serving 18 months as our first executive director.

Written by Ralph Rivera

Another anti-family abortion-related bill, HB 887 (Amendment 1), passed out of the House Human Services Committee yesterday – the same committee that killed common-sense pro-life bills and a bill to protect students’ privacy in bathrooms and locker rooms (HB 4474), to name just a few.

Sponsored by State Representative Ann Williams (D-Chicago), HB 887 would amend various insurance codes, to keep a policyholder with a family plan from knowing that others are getting “sensitive health services” related to “reproductive health, including, but not limited to, family planning, maternity, abortion, fertility, transgender-related care, and HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infection services.”

If passed, this legislation would undermine the Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act and limit the ability of parents to protect and raise their minor children as well as their adult children within the family insurance policy.

It requires health insurance providers to:

“permit individuals to request…communications of protected health information [e.g. abortions, transgender-related care] by alternative means or at alternative locations [e.g. mail, phone, or electronically].” 

“[A]ll protected health information…should be withheld by the health insurance provider or redirected to a specified mail or electronic mail address or specified telephone number…”

Proponents of this legislation have admitted that its intent is to keep policyholders from knowing what immoral procedures and “medical” services their premiums are being used for.

Take ACTION:  Click HERE to send a message to your state representative to urge him/her to oppose HB 887.

You can also call your state representative in Springfield during normal business hours.  The Capitol switchboard number is (217) 782-2000.

Thomas More Society Files Motion for Immediate Transfer of Parental Notice Challenge to Illinois Supreme Court

Our friends at the pro-life Thomas More Society law firm just delivered the justices of the Illinois Supreme Court a motion to immediately transfer the legal case pending against the Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act of 1995 from the Appellate Court to the Supreme Court. Arguing that pregnant minors at risk for abortion suffer harm every day that the Act is not enforced, the Society invoked the Supreme Court rule allowing transfer of an appeal when the “public interest requires prompt adjudication.” The pending appeal, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), is currently in the Illinois Appellate Court, First District, where a decision is not expected for a year or more.

Contact Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan to request that she support the motion filed by Thomas More. It is high time to end the delay of enforcing this law that was enacted fifteen years ago. The people of Illinois overwhelmingly support parental notice.

You can also call the Attorney General’s office at the numbers listed below:

Chicago — (312) 814-3000

Rockford — (815) 967-3883

Springfield — (217) 782-1090

Quincy — (217) 223-2221

Belleville — (618) 236-8616

Carbondale — (618) 529-6400

Background
“More than fifteen years ago, with overwhelming bipartisan support, parental notice was supposedly made the law in Illinois, but as we sit here today, secret abortions on pregnant minors continue unabated,” said Peter Breen, Thomas More Society executive director and legal counsel. “With this motion to transfer, the Supreme Court has the opportunity to immediately and definitively decide the constitutionality of parental notice in Illinois.”

Earlier this year, Judge Daniel Riley of the Cook County Circuit Court allowed the Thomas More Society to appear as “friends of the court” as he rejected the ACLU’s Illinois state constitutional challenges to the Parental Notice Act. However, after the decision, both the ACLU and the Illinois Attorney General’s office agreed to an indefinite stay of the law, extending through the duration of the appeal a temporary restraining order entered earlier by Judge Riley.

Since the Parental Notice Act was signed into law in 1995, more than 50,000 abortions have been performed on pregnant minors in Illinois, including almost 5,000 abortions on girls 14 years of age and younger. Illinois is the only state in the Midwest that does not have a law requiring parental notification or consent prior to an abortion, and more than 55,000 abortions have been performed on non-residents in Illinois since 1995, including an unknown number of out-of-state pregnant minors.

While the Act was passed in 1995, it was in late 2006 that the Illinois Supreme Court issued the Act’s required “judicial bypass” rules, which allow a minor a confidential bypass proceeding in court in lieu of notifying her parents. Notwithstanding the bypass rules, the Act also allows a minor to forego notification if she declares in writing that she is the victim of abuse. In early 2009, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit rejected the ACLU’s federal constitutional challenge to the Act.

It is not yet known whether the Attorney General and the ACLU will support, oppose or remain neutral on the motion to transfer. A copy of the motion to transfer can be downloaded at www.thomasmoresociety.org.