On March 10, 2023, Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker decreed that he was proclaiming that day, “Abortion Provider Appreciation Day.” He dedicated his proclamation to Dr. David Gunn who was an abortion doctor that was killed in 1993 on the same date. Contained within the edict are these words,

“Whereas, reproductive health care, including abortion care, is essential, time sensitive health care that cannot be delayed…abortion providers and the clinic staff who support them and their patients are an essential and valued part of Illinois health care, providing quality, compassionate, and necessary health care to both community members and those who travel here for care.”

The word “care” is included in the document 12 separate times. But who exactly is being cared for by abortion providers? Certainly not the babies that are ripped apart in their mother’s wombs. That’s not health care. And neither is it health care (or any other sort of “care”) for the mothers who walk through the doors of the slaughterhouse.

But this sort of double-speak is common place in Democrat parlance. The Governor of Illinois uses words like “compassion”, and “health care” to attempt to convince the public that murdering babies is actually caring for them and their mothers, and that it is something we should celebrate. I am reminded here of the words of the prophet Isaiah who wrote 2700 years ago, “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!” (Isaiah 5:20 ESV). Isn’t that exactly what this proclamation does?

The Apostle Paul tells us that,

“…in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:1-4).

The first and last descriptors that Paul gives in the above passage as a sign of the end times is that “people will be lovers of self” and “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” Can there be a more clear picture of this than the Governor’s celebration of death? Actually, to be more specific, it is a celebration of death dealers in particular. The Illinois Governor is in essence, “evangelizing” with the Anti-Gospel. In the Gospel, Christ says “I will die for you.” But abortion says to a little baby, “you will die for me, and for my pleasure.”

Oh, how many of the expressions in 2 Timothy 3:1-4 apply to the Governor’s “Abortion Provider Appreciation Day”! Pritzker couches his edict in the sheepskin of kindness, compassion, and care, but make no mistake about it, its origins are straight from the Pit. In it we see a billionaire lover of money, continually paid by abortion lobbyists. We see the unholy, heartless declaration of a day devoted to the celebration of murder. And we see brutal, reckless encouragement to destroy lives made in the Image of God.

Governor Pritzker’s proclamation is perfectly in line with Herod the Great’s decree in Matthew 2:16 that all  baby boys under 2 years-old in Bethlehem be destroyed. You can bet there was celebration in Herod’s palace that night while Rachel was weeping for her children in Ramah. And there is celebration in Pritzker’s palace today while so very many women weep in the recovery rooms of every Planned Parenthood abortion clinic.

For all lovers of decency and goodness, let March 10th in Illinois stand as a day of mourning, not as a day of appreciation for murderers. Has society reached a point where it can no longer blush? When the shamefulness of wicked deeds is suppressed for long enough, those who do the suppression become shameless, and after they become shameless, they become celebratory of the very things they should be weeping about. They not only do them, but they give hearty approval to those who practice them as well. May God have mercy on the people of Illinois!

To those who are considering having an abortion, do not listen to lying wolves in sheep’s clothing who tell you that the baby in your womb is nothing but an unfeeling clump of cells. No, that is a lie. It is a baby, made in the Image of God and knit together by the Author of Life. You need to know that there are many alternatives to abortion. In fact, many godly families pray night and day for a baby to adopt because they can’t have kids of their own. It would be an answer to their prayers to adopt your child if you are unable to care for him or her. Please consider that instead of the slaughterhouse. And to those who have had an abortion, you need to know that there is hope and forgiveness in Jesus Christ. He is willing and able to forgive all of your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness if you would but repent and turn to Him in faith.

Jesus says,

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30).

TAKE ACTION: Click HERE to email Governor JB Pritzker with your thoughts on his “Abortion Provider Appreciation Day” decree. Let him know that you believe abortion take an innocent pre-born human life.

You can also call the Governor’s office in Springfield at (217) 782-6830 or his office in Chicago at (312) 814-2121.

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.

The Illinois Family Institute is issuing this public statement to urge Governor J.B. Pritzker and Attorney General Kwame Raoul to prepare to ensure the safety of churches and pro-life pregnancy resource centers (PRCs) in Illinois.

David E. Smith, the executive director of the statewide pro-life, pro-family organization, notes that vandalism, arson, threats of violence, and interruption of church services have been escalating since the leak of Justice Samuel Alito‘s draft opinion on abortion.

“We cannot afford to ignore the threats of violence and harassment to achieve political ends,” said Smith. “It is wise to anticipate more violent reactions from fringe pro-abortion activists if and when the U.S. Supreme Court hands down its decision in the Dobbs case.”

The arrest of a California man who was reportedly armed with a gun and knife near Justice Brett Kavanaugh‘s house in Maryland is alarming. Federal law enforcement officials have charged him with attempted murder.

Recently, both CompassCare Pregnancy Services in Buffalo, New York and the headquarters for Wisconsin Family Action were firebombed. In Asheville, North Carolina, a business that provides counseling for pregnant women was vandalized. Earlier this week, in New York City, pro-life advocates participating in a monthly event called “Witness for Life” were mobbed.

Mr. Smith points out that while abortion facilities in Chicago have bubble zones to protect the safety of abortion workers and clients, no such protection exists for pregnancy care centers and churches. During this turbulent time, the state of Illinois must give them equal protection under the law.

“Governor Pritzker and Attorney General Raoul should make it clear that violence and intimidation will not be tolerated in Illinois,” urges Smith. “Moreover, law enforcement agencies across the state must be put on high alert, visibly present in their patrols in an effort to dissuade violence.”

IFI implores Governor Pritzker and Attorney General Raoul to speak out in advance of the ruling to urge peace and calm.

We call every elected official in Illinois, no matter their view on the Dobbs decision, to speak out in opposition to any response that includes violence and intimidation.

Mr. Smith contends that any attack on a church or pregnancy care center should be considered an anti-religious hate crime and the perpetrators should be charged accordingly.

Why has Illinois become a stinking bog of degradation, violence, and fiscal collapse? It’s because we have scores of “leaders,” and activists who are as unable to distinguish right from wrong as they are unable to distinguish men from women. One of those activists is Oren Jacobson, devoted advocate for the slaughter of preborn humans, founder of Men4Choice, board member of pro-human slaughter Personal PAC, self-identifying “thought leader,” and self-promoter extraordinaire who recently said,

Everything we’re doing is focused on getting what are really millions of men—who in theory are pro-choice but are completely passive when it comes to their voice and their energy and their time in the fight for abortion rights and abortion access—to get off the sidelines and step in the fight as allies.

And here I thought men were supposed to shut up about abortion.

In an interview on MSNBC with Zerlina Maxwell after the U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito was leaked, Jacobson emoted,

I want to say one thing to … all the women watching, everybody who can get pregnant, how deeply sorry I am that we’re in this moment. I’m feeling very emotional about that.

He had to add that last statement in case everybody who can get pregnant didn’t notice his phony voice-cracking indicating he was about to fake-cry. Jacobson wants everybody who can get pregnant to know he has Deep Feelings about the possibility that pregnant women—and men—may not be legally allowed to slaughter their offspring. Nuttin’ means nuttin’ without Deep Feelings.

And boy, oh, boy does the emotive Jacobson have Deep Feelings—deep feelings and a vivid imagination. The mere thought of women not being free to slaughter their unborn leads Jacobson to imagine a horrific dystopian handmaid’s tale where rapists roam free and women’s very humanity is denied:

If this is, in fact, the ruling that the Court will hand down, that in at least 13 states right away and most likely in 25 0r 26 states pretty quickly, a rapist will have more rights than a woman in those states. And it is beyond horrifying to imagine a future in which your humanity, your dignity, your ability to control your life is valued less than a rapist.

What precisely are the “rights” rapists will have that women will not in states that acknowledge the humanity of unborn humans? And how are the humanity and dignity of women diminished by recognizing the humanity and dignity of their offspring and protecting their right not to be exterminated?

I’m not exactly sure what the self-identifying “thought leader” Jacobson means when he says that restricting or banning human slaughter means women’s humanity, dignity, and ability to control their lives are “valued less than a rapist.” Rape is illegal, and if caught, rapists are arrested and punished.

Maybe he’s referring to opposition to abortion in cases of rape. Many people who believe in the sanctity, humanity, and dignity of all human life believe that humans created through criminal acts should not be punished for the crimes of their fathers. Such a belief does not constitute either a devaluation of women or an elevated valuation of rapists.

Rather than feeling horrified that 64 million humans have been slaughtered since 1973 because they were imperfect, inconvenient, or unwanted by their mothers, Jacobson is horrified that the killings may stop.

Jacobson sidestepped an awkward question from interviewer Maxwell who said the quiet part out loud, tacitly admitting that men and women use human slaughter as a means of contraception:

One of the things I think we need to talk about … is how men benefit from abortion. … There are men who would not be CEOs but for access to contraception. Tell us how men benefit.

Jacobson was politically canny and cunning enough to avoid responding to that question. Instead, he launched into an autonomy answer that—again—ignores the person with the most at stake and no voice whatsoever:

I want every pro-choice male to step into this out of an obligation to stand up for the freedoms to those most directly impacted. … You deserve the right, within the context of a healthy relationship, to make decisions with your partner that are in the best interest of your family. … In my own personal life, when we have had moments in planning our family … at no point did I give a rip what Ted Cruz, Greg Abbott, Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump, Mike Pence, or any other of these anti-abortion men with power across the country thought about what my wife and I should do. And that is why, to me … this isn’t just a woman’s issue.

When considering whether the “product” of conception between two humans is a human; whether that “product” has humanity, dignity, and value; whether the “product’s” body is her mother’s body; and whether a more developed human should be able to kill the “product,” I don’t give a rip what Chuck Schumer, Adam Schiff, Jerry Nadler, Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, J.B. Pritzker, Jared Polis, Jan Schakowsky, Gavin Newsom, Oren Jacobson, or any other pro-human slaughter men and women with power who refuse to recognize that abortion involves two human bodies thinks.

And that’s why this isn’t just a woman’s issue.

Jacobson continues with his dissembling and evasion:

The simple reality is that the men in America who oppose abortion, who are using their privilege and their power, are not shy, and they are not quiet. So, the question isn’t why shouldn’t men get loud. It’s why haven’t we been getting louder sooner.

Surely, Jacobson knows that men who support the legal right of women to off their offspring have been “using their privilege and power” to rob the unborn of their right to live. In fact, it was seven men, six of whom were white, who in a raw exercise of their power and privilege denied the humanity, dignity, and right to life of preborn humans in Roe v. Wade.

And surely, Jacobson knows why men haven’t “been getting louder sooner.” The reason is that feminist harpies have been shrieking for years that men have no right to speak on abortion—despite the fact that the babies killed have fathers too.

But I agree with Jacobson. Men should get involved. Men should donate to pro-life crisis pregnancy centers and advocacy organizations.

Men, who should be the protectors of and providers for women and children, should march shoulder-to-shoulder with women in pro-life marches. Men should listen to the voices of women who were pressured to have their sons and daughters killed, who live with bone-deep grief and regret, and who are angry that their country tolerates the slaughter of thousands of babies every year.

And to quote Jacobson,

Men, your job is to carry the voices of those women to your peers and buddies, to call them, text them, post on social media about this, to start lifting up those voices and owning this conversation amongst your friends.

The very lives of humans depend on the voices of men and women who know truth.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Jacobson-Another-Foolish-Illinois-Activist.mp3

It’s hard to fathom that for some people, facilitating human slaughter is the animating purpose of their lives. For some, ensuring that women are legally free to slaughter their own offspring is what gives their lives meaning. And unfortunately, many of them live in Illinois, thereby ensuring that the Illinois swamp is filled with not just fetid excrement coming from Springfield and the governor’s mansion but also with the blood of human fetuses.

Illinois’ human dismemberment and disposal industry has moved into high gear in preparation for Roe v. Wade to be overturned, at which point, more states will pass regulations limiting or eliminating abortion accessibility. On Jan. 21, 2022, the Chicago Tribune reported that “Each year, thousands of women cross state lines to have an abortion in Illinois—and that number could grow exponentially as pending U.S. Supreme Court decisions and new laws in various states challenge reproductive rights across large swaths of the nation.”

In anticipation of possible new laws to protect the right of tiny humans not to be exterminated, Hope Clinic in Granite City, Illinois and Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region have colluded to create the Regional Logistics Center, which is housed in the Planned Parenthood slaughterhouse in Fairview Heights, Illinois.

The anodyne-sounding Regional Logistics Center connects pregnant women—also known as mothers—with “various resources to help with everything from paying for the procedure to travel costs to finding a place to stay overnight.” Leftists want Illinois streets stained with the blood of babies from around the country.

(It is notable that human slaughter-related facilities are never located in affluent left-leaning communities like Highland Park or Glencoe. While Fairview Heights has a median household income of $49, 131 and Granite City of $43,759, Highland Park’s is $100,967 and Glencoe’s is $193,571. You would think liberal towns and villages would be eager to demonstrate their support for the “fundamental right” of women to off their offspring by welcoming abattoirs into their communities.)

Trib reporter Angie Leventis Lourgos leaps ungracefully over the human dimensions of the new project in efficiency:

[W]omen traveling here to terminate a pregnancy will have a new resource designed to make the process easier.

If ever there were a “process” in need of ease, it has to be having one’s child killed. Grease up that “process” so no woman has time to listen to any inner voices telling her to stop.

How embarrassing for reporters to resort to using euphemistic phrases like “terminate a pregnancy.” Is there anyone over the age of twelve who doesn’t know that “terminating a pregnancy” means terminating the life of a fellow human being?

The Regional Logistics Center celebrated its opening “just before the 49th anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court abortion rights case Roe v. Wade.” The virtual ribbon-cutting ceremony was virtually attended by Illinois’ morally vacuous governor, J.B. Pritzker, who ironically called the center’s dark business, “‘lifesaving and life-changing work.’” Well, I guess when abortionists turn life into non-life, one could call the work “life-changing.”

Megan Jeyifo, Chicago Abortion Fund

Megan Jeyifo
Chicago Abortion Fund

In an effort to ensure that Illinois remains the Midwest’s premier killing field, this month Pritzker put his money where his mouth is, donating “$100,000 from his campaign to the Personal PAC Independent Committee, whose purpose is preserving reproductive rights in Illinois ‘by making independent expenditures to elect pro-choice candidates to state and local office.’”

One of the resources to which the Regional Logistics Center will connect pregnant women is the Chicago Abortion Fund, whose executive director Megan Jeyifo has ordered the killing of more than one of her own offspring. Finally, she allowed two of her offspring to survive the treacherous waters of her womb and now says this about them:

I honor my abortions when I hug my children. My abortions made their life possible.

Jeyifo sees child sacrifice as a noble deed, one about which she offers this advice to women as they prepare to end the lives of their children:

Wear comfortable clothes. Plan out and look forward to a yummy meal after. Text your best friend. Know that you are making a decision for yourself that is powerful.

Jeyifo has a two-part mission. The first part consists of helping women have their children killed, and the second part is persuading others that killing humans is a noble cause:

Destigmatizing abortion is a really critical component.

What Jeyifo doesn’t say is that destigmatizing human slaughter necessarily entails stigmatizing opposition to human slaughter. Leftists don’t really oppose stigmas, shaming, and judging as they claim they do. Rather, they just want to ensure that moral truths and the people who express them are judged, stigmatized, and shamed.

The morally repugnant Jeyifo who was encumbered in her quests to end her former children’s lives by travel obstacles argues,

I think about what it took for me to travel. … I make really clear to the callers that the difficulty you face in accessing an abortion has nothing to do with the morality of an abortion. It’s a systemic failure in this country. Abortion is health care.

For the umpteenth time, abortion ends the life of an innocent human being. That’s science. Killing innocent humans is not health care. And in no moral universe is the intentional ending of an innocent human life morally defensible. The participation of political leaders, medical professionals, and Big Business in this barbaric practice is a systemic failure in this country.

Anyone hell-bent on keeping human slaughter legal, anyone so ignorant as to believe the Founding Fathers embedded in the Constitution a “right” of mothers to have their children slaughtered lacks both knowledge and wisdom. And anyone who ardently supports and facilitates human slaughter is evil.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Pro-Human-Slaughter-Devotees-Help-Out-of-State-Abortion-Seekers.mp3

If you need evidence that Illinois lawmakers have plumbed the depth of idiocy and that public schools are no longer fit places for boys or girls, look no further than Deerpath Middle School in the North Shore’s tony suburb of Lake Forest where the boys’ bathrooms are now equipped with free feminine hygiene products. And folks, you paid for them.

What’s worse, leftist lawmakers concocted the bill that Governor J. B. Pritzker signed into law that requires every boys’ bathroom in every Illinois public school that serves grades 4 on up to provide free feminine hygiene products—at taxpayer expense. This insult to decency, science, common sense, and stewardship of public money is an expensive sop to the “trans” cult before whom the left grovels.

Because leftists have no fixed moral compass and, therefore, no timeless principles to which they remain tethered, feelings, nothing more than feelings are their polestar. But not everyone’s feelings matter. Only the feelings of those whose sexual identity and sexual drive are disordered, anarchical, and subversive matter.

And that’s why hardworking Illinoisans now pay to provide free tampons and sanitary pads in all boys’ bathrooms in all elementary, middle, and high schools in Illinois.

Boys who attend Deerpath Middle School, which serves children in fifth through eighth grade, recently reacted as anyone over the age of eight would expect them to respond to such idiocy. They “used” sanitary pads and tampons in the only way young boys can, sticking pads hither and thither, and performing science experiments on the absorption capacity of tampons.

Since many leftist re-educators/change agents heartily endorse student activism, they should be pleased with this student protest of adult inanity. Give those boys an A for activism, effort, creativity, and wisdom. Okay, fine, deduct a point for mischief: A-.

Putting feminine products in all boys’ bathrooms in Illinois public schools is not merely a colossal waste of money. The far greater problems are that such a venture depends on prior acceptance of “trans”-cultic assumptions, and that it promulgates those assumptions.

This bathroom practice depends on accepting the leftist understanding of “gender identity” as true and accepting that dissenting beliefs are false.

This bathroom practice depends on accepting the idea that a girl’s subjective belief that she is a boy trapped in a girl’s body should determine bathroom usage rather than her biological sex determining bathroom usage.

This practice depends on accepting the belief that feelings of modesty and the desire for privacy when engaged in private bodily functions has no inherent and necessary connection to sexed bodies.

Moreover, this revolutionary practice now teaches every child in Deerpath Middle School that the preceding “trans” cultic assumptions are true and endorsed by the school.

This practice teaches that biological sex has no meaning relative to privacy.

It teaches that to be just and compassionate, boys (and girls) must relinquish their privacy. They must be willing to share bathrooms with persons of the opposite sex.

Parents and other taxpayers should not be surprised at this partisan-driven waste of scarce tax dollars. IFI warned about this idiotic bill when it was proposed and when it passed, and IFI even provided a peek at the risible “floor debate” prior to the bill’s passage.

Why weren’t there massive protests in Springfield when this law was first proposed? Why weren’t there massive protests when a bill was proposed mandating that schools teach age-inappropriate “comprehensive sex ed” starting in kindergarten? Why weren’t there massive protests when lawmakers proposed the law mandating that schools promote ideas derived from “gender” theory starting in kindergarten?

Where are the courageous, principled school leaders willing to say, “No, we will not sexually integrate the private spaces of children and teens”? “We will not introduce socially constructed, leftist ‘gender’ theory to children and teens or implement policies based on such an arguable theory. We will not sexually integrate single-sex sports. We will not force our teachers to refer to students by pronouns that do not correspond to biological sex, and we will not force teachers to ask students for their pronouns. Rather, teachers will be required to use pronouns that correspond to biological reality.”

And where are the school boards that will stand behind such principled positions? If a district in as wealthy a community as Lake Forest will not stand for truth and be willing to risk the lawsuits that Lambda Legal and the ACLU will surely bring, then there are no limits to what our sanctimonious, presumptuous leftist activists in Springfield will do.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Free-Tampons-in-Lake-Forest-Middle-School-Boys-Bathrooms.mp3

Why was a man named Ota Benga put in a display with an orangutan at the Bronx Zoo in 1906? What does this perverse act, part of our nation’s history, have to do with abortion? While the treatment of Benga and the atrocity of abortion are not identical, they do share a point in common – a refusal to recognize humanity, which leads to treating another person, or an unborn baby, as an object that can be taken, killed, or used in a way others deem acceptable.

Ota Benga, of the Mbuti people, was born in the Belgian Congo around 1881. He was a man of very short stature; as an adult he was only 4 feet 11 inches in height and weighed 103 pounds.

To those whose worldview was shaped by evolutionary thought, Benga was considered part of a primitive race, an earlier form of man on the evolutionary journey. This worldview justified the wicked and brutal actions that were taken towards these people.

Once, when Benga was out on a successful elephant hunt, his wife and children were murdered, along with others, by the Force Publique, a military group in Congo started by King Leopold II of Belgium. If this was not a sufficient trial, Benga was captured and sold into slavery. A former missionary turned explorer, Samuel Verner, purchased Benga and others to be part of a display for the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. This display was intended to showcase the stages of evolution.

After the World’s Fair, Benga was taken back to the Congo where he remarried. Sadly, his second wife died. With the rest of his family and clan gone, he suffered the added blow of being rejected by his people. Benga was brought back to the U.S. Facing financial difficulties, Verner offered Benga to the director of the Bronx Zoo, William Temple Hornaday. Shaped by an evolutionary mindset, Hornaday had no issue with displaying Ota Benga like an animal. This proved to be a great publicity stunt. A New York Times headline from Sept. 9, 1906 read, “BUSHMAN SHARES A CAGE WITH BRONX PARK APES; Some Laugh Over His Antics, but Many Are Not Pleased. KEEPER FREES HIM AT TIMES Then, with Bow and Arrow, the Pygmy from the Congo Takes to the Woods.”

The next week, a medical doctor, M.S. Gabriel, wrote an editorial claiming that Ota Benga was having a fine time at the zoo; there was no reason for protesting his poor treatment.

Although Benga did draw crowds, African-American pastors properly raised alarms. The New York Times responded to one of the ministers with incredible arrogance saying: “One reverend coloured brother objects to the curious exhibition on the grounds that it is an impious effort to lend credibility to Darwin’s dreadful theories … the reverend coloured brother should be told that evolution … is now taught in the textbooks of all the schools, and that it is no more debatable than the multiplication table.”

Benga thankfully was set free from the display at the zoo and was helped by an orphanage. Later he moved to Lynchburg, VA and was baptized. He attended some elementary-level classes and ended up working at a tobacco factory. He longed to return to Africa, but World War I prevented him from returning. Sadly, on March 20, 1916, he ended his own life.

On December 17, 2021 Governor J. B. Pritzker signed House Bill 370, repealing the Illinois Parental Notification Act that was first passed in 1995, but not instituted until 2013. It is estimated that this law, once enforced, saved about 1000 lives a year and reduced the number of abortions performed on minors by 55%.

Rich Miller‘s Capitol Fax newsletter recorded the praise of perverse politicians and leaders of groups that savagely prey on the unborn and young people in need. The conclusion of Miller’s article from 12/17/21 noted that Illinois increased its number of abortions to out-of-state residents from 2,970 in 2014 to 7,534 in 2019. Business is booming in this grisly trade.

Thankfully there were a few politicians and other leaders in the fight for life who expressed their horror at the passage of this law. Most of the opposition focused on the rights of parents. Some spoke of the danger of this law with respect to the trafficking of minor girls. Save for Eric Scheidler‘s statement, none of the responses directly highlighted the plight of the unborn. Parental rights are part of the issue, but even deeper is the fundamental right to life that the unborn child possesses from the moment of conception.

In 2006, one hundred years after its initial article, the New York Times wrote a drastically different column on Ota Benga, “The Scandal at the Zoo.” Additionally, in 2020, the Times noted an apology from the Wildlife Conservation Society, the group that oversees the Bronx Zoo, for its treatment of Benga and the practice of eugenics that was endorsed by two of the Society’s founders.

May the Lord awaken the hearts of those who currently are in rebellion against His truth regarding the humanity of the unborn child. If our eyes have been opened to this truth, let us not boast, yet let us not be silent in the face of the continued slaughter.

Other Sources:

David Catchpoole. The Elusive Okapi, Living Fossil of the Congo. Creation Magazine, Vol. 44, No. 1 2022

Jerry Bergman. Ota Benga: the pygmy put on display in a zoo, April 19, 2007

Written by Austin Scott Davies

Article II Section 1 of the Illinois Constitution provides that “[t]he legislative, executive and judicial branches are separate. No branch shall exercise powers properly belonging to another. Article VI Section 1 provides that “[t]he judicial power is vested in a Supreme Court, an Appellate Court and Circuit Courts.”

With the passage of Senate Bill 1169 (SB 1169), Governor JB Pritzker and his cronies have attempted to usurp the exclusive power of the judicial branch of government.

To fully appreciate what Illinois Democrats have done here, let’s first examine the Health Care Right of Conscience Act. The legislators who passed The Health Care Right of Conscience Act (“HCRCA”) included within it a policy statement so that it would be abundantly clear to all Illinoisans what their intent was. The pertinent part reads,

The General Assembly finds and declares that people and organizations hold different beliefs about whether certain health care services are morally acceptable. It is the public policy of the State of Illinois to respect and protect the right of conscience of all persons who refuse to obtain, receive or accept, or who are engaged in, the delivery of, arrangement for, or payment of health care services and medical care whether acting individually, corporately, or in association with other persons; and to prohibit all forms of discrimination.

The HCRCA prohibits any discrimination against those refusing to receive health care services that are contrary to his or her conscience. It states as follows:

It shall be unlawful for any person, public or private institution, or public official to discriminate against any person in any manner, including but not limited to, licensing, hiring, promotion, transfer, staff appointment, hospital, managed care entity, or any other privileges, because of such person’s conscientious refusal to receive, obtain, accept, perform, assist, counsel, suggest, recommend, refer or participate in any way in any particular form of health care services contrary to his or her conscience.

Discrimination by employers or institutions is specifically prohibited again in another part of the act:

It shall be unlawful for any public or private employer, entity, agency, institution, official or person, including but not limited to, a medical, nursing or other medical training institution, to deny admission because of, to place any reference in its application form concerning, to orally question about, to impose any burdens in terms or conditions of employment on, or to otherwise discriminate against, any applicant, in terms of employment, admission to or participation in any programs for which the applicant is eligible, or to discriminate in relation thereto, in any other manner, on account of the applicant’s refusal to receive, obtain, accept, perform, counsel, suggest, recommend, refer, assist or participate in any way in any forms of health care services contrary to his or her conscience.

Now, let’s turn to why the HCRCA has been put in the spotlight. Governor Pritzker, who has been attempting to rule the State of Illinois by executive fiat since the spring of 2020 under the guise of COVID-19 mitigation measures, has been recently losing in court.

The governor’s “mandate” that employers require vaccination or testing of all employees has been enforced voluntarily by many public and private employers, despite there being nothing in Illinois law to provide for enforcement of these executive orders. As a result, the HCRCA has been successfully used to obtain restraining orders against those mandating COVID-19 related mRNA injections and testing for COVID-19, without exemption for those who object to receiving that health care based on their moral beliefs.

All Illinois laws that require other vaccines provide for exemptions based either on religion or on proving that you have natural immunity from already contracting whatever disease the inoculation is intended to prevent. Pritzker’s “mandates” are different, because there are no exemptions provided for in state law when an employer requires you to receive a COVID-19 shot, and never has there been a requirement that otherwise healthy people receive a test for a disease that they have no suspicion of having in order to coerce someone to receive an unwanted vaccine. For those reasons, the HCRCA’s protections have been the last line of defense against these tyrannical mandates.

That’s why the governor, through his cronies in the legislature, tried to rush through SB 1169 during the fall veto session. In less than 24 hours, from October 25-26, the first (HFA 2) amendment to the original shell bill, which is similar to what was ultimately passed, received over 50,000 witness slips in opposition.

On October 27, the bill was amended again by Illinois House Floor Amendment 3 with no substantive changes, likely so that it could be sent to the Illinois Senate to concur without having all those opposing witness slips attached. Constituents took notice of this maneuver, and within only a couple of hours filed tens of thousands of witness slips in opposition to SB 1129 as amended by HFA 3.

The full text of SB 1169 reads:

It is not a violation of this Act for any person or public official, or for any public or private association, agency, corporation, entity, institution, or employer, to take any measures or impose any requirements, including, but not limited to, any measures or requirements that involve provision of services by a physician or health care personnel, intended to prevent contraction or transmission of COVID-19 or any pathogens that result in COVID-19 or any of its subsequent iterations. It is not a violation of this Act to enforce such measures or requirements. This Section is a declaration of existing law and shall not be construed as a new enactment. Accordingly, this Section shall apply to all actions commenced or pending on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly. Nothing in this Section is intended to affect any right or remedy under federal law.

It may not be readily apparent what the governor is trying to do here. It might appear that through this bill, the legislature was amending the HCRCA to carve out an exception that would remove its protection of people’s right to object based on their conscience to unwanted health care related to COVID-19.

However, that’s not what the legislature did here. By including in the bill the sentence, “This Section is a declaration of existing law and shall not be construed as a new enactment,” this renders what would otherwise be an exception for COVID-19 nothing more than a resolution and statement from this general assembly of what they believe was the intent of the previous legislature that enacted the Health Care Right of Conscience Act and its other amendments. Resolutions are merely statements of opinion. They aren’t amendments, and they certainly don’t change the law.

The absurdity of this is astounding. The legislature here has said that they believe that the HCRCA, which states that “[i]t is the public policy of the State of Illinois to respect and protect the right of conscience of all persons who refuse to obtain, receive or accept … health care services and medical care … and to prohibit all forms of discrimination,” meant to say something like “except if it relates in any way to COVID-19.” Not only is this absurd and contrary to the plain language and ordinary meaning of the HCRCA, but also this is an unconstitutional attempt of the legislature to take on the role of the judiciary by interpreting what the intent of the HCRCA is.

In Illinois House and Illinois Senate debates when Republicans argued for the preservation of Illinoisans’ rights and of the HCRCS, Democrats and the Office of the Attorney General admitted that this bill came from the Governor. They admitted that the Attorney General needed his legislation to pass to help him in his fight against the people of Illinois using the HCRCA to protect their natural, God-given right to refuse health care based on their conscience.

What they didn’t admit, is that Senate Bill 1169 was meant to confuse the people of Illinois and coerce them into complying with mandates that they have no legal obligation to follow. The Illinois constitution prevents the Illinois legislature from interpreting the intent of the HCRCA. Only the courts have the power to interpret statutes and Illinois courts have given every indication that they believe the intent of the HCRCA was to protect all people in Illinois from receiving health care in violation of their conscience.

The Health Care Right of Conscience Act still protects your right to refuse COVID-19 related health care based on your conscience.

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.

On August 20, 2021, Governor J.B. Pritzker signed into law a comprehensive sex-ed bill that sexualizes your child and strips them of their innocence beginning in kindergarten. What exactly is comprehensive sex-ed? Read about it HERE.

According to this law, all government schools that provide personal health and safety courses must align their curricula with the National Sex Education Standards, formulated by so-called “experts” who supposedly know what’s best for your child: Planned Parenthood, SIECUS, and GLSEN, among others. In other words, as these standards change, the Illinois sex ed curricula will change.

These people want your child to be introduced to masturbation, gender identity, and different types of families in kindergarten through second grade. In grades 3-5 (ages 8-10), they will learn about hormone blockers for those who identify as transgender, be able to define “sexual orientation,” “cisgender, transgender, gender nonbinary, gender expansive, and gender identity,” and have masturbation reaffirmed to them as normal.

In grades 6-8 (ages 11-13), they will be required to define “bisexual, lesbian, gay, queer, twospirit, asexual, pansexual,” “vaginal, oral, and anal sex,” know where to access “short- and long-term contraception,” and be able to list at least 4 methods of contraception available without a prescription. They will be required to describe pregnancy options including abortion. Absolutely nothing is left to the imagination as they get older.

Make no mistake, students will be encouraged to “experiment” with their sexuality and be exposed to ideas that have historically considered perverse, sinful or abominable.

The law states that materials must be “age and developmentally” and “culturally appropriate,” but those terms are not defined. Apparently that’s left to the groups who write the standards to determine what’s age-appropriate for your child, not to mention the financial profits they will amass from your child’s sexual experimentation.

Parents, if you’re unable to homeschool your child or afford private education, please consider protecting him/her from radical sex-education and other godless indoctrination. Click on the check below to access the form to opt them out of these classes.

This Opt Out Form should be printed and signed. As a parent, you are responsible for their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Not the school and not the teacher. If you do not want your child exposed to sexual deviancy, please download this form and check the appropriate box(es). Instructions are included.

As Leftists unravel and incinerate the fabric of America, it’s helpful—unpleasant but helpful—to recall some of their now legendary acts of hypocrisy and deceit, including the widespread use of Newspeak. So, let’s start with that.

While claiming to have a corner on compassion and love, Leftists now refer to human beings by the soulless, utilitarian term “human infrastructure”—something to be used, manipulated, repaired, or destroyed and rebuilt in ways that better serve the omniscient and omnipotent among us. I guess we should count ourselves lucky that they are including the word “human’’—for now.

Leftists cheer for the acts alleged by Bob Woodward and Robert Costas in their book Peril to have been committed by General Mark Milley—acts that if true would be seditious and/or treasonous. Meanwhile, Democrats spent millions of taxpayer dollars to “investigate” alleged collusion with Russians by former President Trump even after they knew the story was false.

Leftists want hard-working Americans to pay for the food, housing, education, job-training, and medical expenses of 95,000 Afghan refugees. Meanwhile, the U.S. homeless population is over 580,000, of which 171,000 are in families and 37,000 are military veterans.

Leftists support falsified birth certificates and drivers’ licenses but oppose falsified vaccine passports.

Leftists shriek “our bodies, our choice” when it comes to destroying tiny bodies that are not theirs, while out of the other side of their mouths they hiss, “your body, our choice” when it comes to vaccines that have not been proven risk-free.

The ruling elite—including Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, and sexually profligate California Governor Gavin Newsom—infamously imposed restrictions on the deplorables that they themselves had no intention of submitting to.

Leftists said nothing when Kamala Harris proclaimed she would not get the vaccine if Trump said to get one, but they are howling indignantly because rapper Nicki Minaj suggested people should do their own research before getting a COVID-19 vaccination.

Leftists want to force Americans to be vaccinated or regularly tested for COVID-19, and the Biden administration is requiring all foreign nationals who come to the U.S. legally to provide proof of vaccination and a negative COVID-19 test within three days of leaving their country for the U.S. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has been allowing thousands of illegal immigrants to flood the country without proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test.

Leftists support the lawlessness of border criminals who flagrantly violate our immigration laws, and at the same time, they object to the efforts of ICE, the U.S. Border Patrol, and police to enforce laws that protect citizens.

Leftists shrieked about “kids in cages”—cages that the Obama administration built—and said nothing about plastic pods with children of color packed in like sardines.

Leftists claim to love multiculturalism and hate the imposition of “white” ideas on other cultures, but then they spend buckets of taxpayer ducats to impose controversial leftist sexuality dogma that was socially constructed by privileged whites in off-white towers on Middle Eastern and African cultures.

Leftists claim to be the party that cares about women, but then they sexually integrate women’s locker rooms, restrooms, shelters, prisons, and sports, and they support the slaughter of approximately 430,000 girls in the womb.

Leftists call conservatives “fascists,” while they—leftists—eagerly support the efforts of Big Tech, Big Business, and Big Government to ban books, censor speech, compel speech, bury news stories, and prevent journalists from fully informing the public of Biden’s corruption and humanitarian disasters.

Leftists claim to value diversity, tolerance, free speech, and critical thinking and then silence ideas they hate from being studied and discussed in publicly subsidized schools.

Leftists claim to care about persons of color and yet steadfastly deny them the right to choose where their children are educated.

Leftists claim to care about persons of color but continually pass policies and laws that incentivize the destruction of the nuclear family which has resulted in a plague of criminal activity, dysfunctional schools, dangerous neighborhoods, and government dependence among those communities where many persons of color live.

When pressed a few leftists muttered an anemic tut tut about the 630 violent insurrections by BLM and Antifa that caused over a billion dollars of damage to private property, resulted in 2,000 police injuries, and included the destruction of government property, and yet all leftists fake-fume endlessly about the Jan. 6 riot.

Leftists paid to have criminals who were arrested in the 2020 BLM/Antifa insurrections sprung from jail and yet say nothing when those arrested for participating in the Jan. 6 riot languish in jail for months on end.

Leftists couldn’t care less about Hunter Biden’s influence-peddling, his corrupt father’s lies about not knowing a thing about Hunter’s influence-peddling business, or about Eric Swalwell’s sexual dalliance with a Chinese spy, but they fake-fumed tirelessly about a “pee tape.”

Leftists pontificate on the importance of “transparency” while saying nothing when cellar-dweller Biden stayed barricaded in his fortress rather than campaigning and saying nothing when the few press conferences he holds are micro-crafted with precision to conceal his cognitive decline.

Leftists couldn’t care less about Biden’s memory failures and verbal gaffes, but boy, oh, boy did they object to Trump’s inartful rhetoric.

In 2006, just before she became the first female U.S. Speaker of the House of liars, Nancy Pelosi  said,

We’ll turn the most closed and corrupt Congress into the most open and honest Congress. … The only way you can make the change that needs to be made for our country—a new direction where we’re there for the many and not the few—is to drain the swamp.

Pelosi meant none of it.

Throughout Trump’s tenure, America learned just how thick, deep, and fetid the swamp has become. The sewage has leached out into all power centers: all departments of the vast governmental bureaucracy, legacy news media, social media behemoths, academia, and corporate America.

And now, you can’t work in America if you say you oppose the slaughter of humans in the womb. You can’t work in America if you refuse to use transpeak pronouns. You can’t work in America if you say homoerotic acts are immoral and the union of two people of the same sex is not—in reality—a marriage. You can’t work in America if you won’t get a COVID vaccine.

This is no longer America.

To borrow the title of Rod Dreher’s book: Live not by lies.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Legendary-Hypocrisy-and-Deceit-of-Democrats.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.

Don’t think for a minute that Springfield Dems are done genuflecting to homosexuals and cross-sex impersonators with the passage of the “Perversion Positive” sex ed bill, the “Free Tampons for Boys” bill, and the “Babies for EVERYONE” bill, which forces insurance companies to pay for “infertility” treatments for single people without sexual partners and homosexuals in naturally non-reproductive relationships. Oh, no, no, no. Morally fluid Springfield decree-makers have barely gotten started.

They also passed along partisan lines a bill (Illinois General Assembly – Full Text of SB1730 (ilga.gov) that amends the Business Corporation Act of 1983, which was written to address the underrepresentation of women and racial minorities on corporate boards. If signed into law, it will take effect this coming January and will require that “public corporations … report the self-identified sexual orientation and self-identified gender identity of its directors.”

If Governor J.B. Pritzker signs this bill into law, any publicly held domestic or foreign corporation with its “principal executive office in Illinois” will be required to submit an annual report to the secretary of state that includes the homoerotic predilections and “trans”-cultic practices of members of its board of directors.

The secretary of state will then send this information to the University of Illinois, which will issue a Chinese-social-credit-like “rating” to each corporation and issue edicts “identify strategies” to coerce corporations to get more homosexuals and cross-sex impersonators on their boards pronto.

Why—some Illinoisans are wondering—is Big Brother constructing ways to force corporations to procure more board members who prefer erotic relations with persons of the same sex and more board members who fancy themselves to be the sex they aren’t and never can be? Silly people, the reason is obvious. Corporate ethics and profitability are constituted by the number of homosexuals and cross-sex impersonators sitting on corporate boards.

There is, however, a problem with this law. This short but powerful tool for “equity” mentions “demographic diversity” three times, and yet, there is no mention of polyamorists—also known as consensual non-monogamists—autogynephiliacs, transableists, or cupiosexuals? Do any corporate boards in Illinois have members who identify as polyamorists, autogynephiliacs, transableists, or cupiosexuals? Does the secretary of state or University of Illinois have that information? If not, why not?

Despite portraying themselves as warriors for “demographic diversity” and “inclusion,” Springfield Democrats apparently want to remain mired on the wrong side of history.

Pulling my tongue out of my cheek, I will try to clarify the intellectual waters that leftists muddy with redefinitions and bad analogies: Neither “sexual orientation”—which really only means homoeroticism—nor cross-sex impersonation is analogous to biological sex or race. Whereas biological sex and race (or skin color) are non-behavioral, objective, 100% heritable, and in all cases immutable conditions, both homoeroticism  and cross-sex impersonation are constituted by subjective and often fluid feelings and volitional behaviors—like polyamory, autogynephilia, transableism, and cupiosexuality. There remains no rational or ethical justification for lawmakers to coerce companies to base board membership on potential board members’ sexual feelings.

The Great Awokening in Illinois continues, and while it does, let’s see how many more corporations and families flee Illinois.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Springfield-LawmakersGenuflect-to-LGBTQ-Communitym4a.mp3

Don’t let the word “debate” in the term “floor debate” fool you. Floor debates in Springfield are no more debates than transwomen are women. There is no cross-examination or rebuttal, for which most of our lawmakers must be deeply thankful in that they couldn’t argue their way out of an imaginary paper bag—at least not using logic and evidence.

Floor debates in Springfield are occasions for bill sponsors and supporters—almost always Democrats—to pontificate and for opponents to try to point out flaws that are promptly ignored by Democrats no matter how reasonable and justified. A floor debate in Springfield for Democrat-sponsored bills is a tale told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing but more government restriction of liberty, more government spending, and more moral chaos.

For an example, let’s look briefly at last Friday’s floor debate preceding the vote in the Illinois House on the pernicious sex ed bill that now awaits Governor J.B. Pritzker’s signature. According to the bill’s chief sponsor, State Representative Camille Lilly (D-Chicago), the bill was socially constructed by three far left organizations—”Advocates for Youth, SIECUS and the Answer”—all of which are dedicated to normalizing abortion, early sexual experimentation, and sexual deviance. It is noteworthy that this bill is so perverse and troubling that even Illinois Democrats were barely able to scrape together the 60 votes needed to pass it.

Before looking at the “debate,” here’s a reminder of what lawmakers in Springfield think government employees should be exposing other people’s children to.

If signed into law, this bill will require all personal health and safety lessons in Illinois public schools—including charter schools—to teach children in grades K-2 about unmarried moms and dads and families led by homosexual couples. These very young children will also be expected to define “gender identity’’—a euphemism for the disordered desire to be the opposite sex.

Government employees will demand that children ages 8-11 explain, describe, and define masturbation, homosexuality, bisexuality, cross-sex impersonation, the use of hormone blockers for children who pretend to be the sex they aren’t, and “gender expansiveness”—a socially constructed leftist term.

Then in grades 6-8, government employees will instruct other people’s children in the ways of oral and anal sex; the “methods of contraception that are available without a prescription”; the “many methods of short- and long-term contraception that are safe and effective and … how to access them”; and the meaning of intersex, queer, twospirit, asexual, and pansexual. And, of course, leftists have snuck in some critical race theory, so 11–14-year-olds will be taught as objective and true the socially constructed theory of “intersectionality.”

To ensure that religious Illinois school children graduate from high school ashamed of and detesting the faith of their mothers and fathers, government employees will teach them about the evils of what leftists call “homophobia” and “transphobia.” In the Upside Down where leftists live and move and have their being, the true belief that homosexual acts and cross-dressing undermine the image of God imprinted on all humans constitutes irrational hatred.

State Representative Avery Bourne (R-Raymond) was able to get Lilly to admit that this law—like the ever-shifting moral beliefs of leftists—is fluid. If the bill becomes law, it will forever be tied to the National Sex Education Standards which change as progressivism affirms additional forms of sexual perversion. Bourne’s question elicited this shocking confession from the hapless Lilly:

As the National Sex Education Standards are updated, the State Board of Education shall update these learning standards.

All the ideas related to sexuality just mentioned are socially constructed leftist terms embedded with leftist assumptions. All the terms tossed about with absolutist certainty by Democrats to justify the indoctrination of other people’s children, including “age-appropriate,” “developmentally appropriate,” and “culturally appropriate,” are defined by leftists using criteria established by leftists.

Virtually no theologically orthodox Christian believes it is “culturally appropriate” for their 5-8- year-olds to be taught anything about homosexuality or “trans”-cultic beliefs and practices. SB 818’s supporters like to emphasize the sop they’re tossing to conservatives: Any parent may opt their child out of perversion-positive training.

Doesn’t sound very inclusive to me. In addition, conservatives still have to pay for perversion-positive “personal health and safety” training.

Curiously, in the floor “debate,” the issue of moral development never arose. It’s clear that moral assumptions/conclusions are embedded in the National Sex Education Standards with which this law requires all health and safety curricula selected by schools to align. How do I know that moral conclusions are embedded in these standards?

I know because these “standards” do not require schools to teach about, for example, polyamory, zoophilia, or infantilism—all forms of “identity” for some people. Even though these are forms of identity, Springfield Democrats don’t—yet –require that Illinois schools affirm them. The reason is that not enough Democrats—yet—believe these forms of identity are moral. Currently, Democrats believe homosexual and cross-sex identities should be normalized via taxpayer-funded schools because Democrats have concluded they are morally acceptable.

Remember what this bill requires as I quote some of the dumb things Democrats said about it in their fatuous floor speechifying, starting with the foolish sponsor of the bill, Camille Lilly:

Under SB818 … the materials and instruction must be age and developmentally appropriate, medically accurate, correct, complete, culturally appropriate, inclusive. … SB818 is not a mandate. Under SB818 parents, guardians and others will still be able to review the materials used by schools. Parents are still able to opt out, and local control applies to the selection of courses and materials and the curriculum. In addition to reducing stigma, SB818 would result in creating and the creation of learning standards that reflect the diversity of all students here in the state of Illinois.

Some brief thoughts about Lilly’s claims:

• SB 818 is not age-, developmentally, or culturally appropriate. The claims by leftist sexperts do not change reality.

• If by “correct” Lilly means “conforming to truth” or “proper,” she is incorrect.

• Clearly, materials and instruction will not be “complete” because the NSES do not include any information about polyamory, zoophilia, infantilism, sadomasochism, or any other paraphilias. I wonder if Camille Lilly et al. hate polyamorists, zoophiles, infantilists, and sadomasochists.

• SB 818 is a mandate in that no school may teach anything on personal health and safety in grades K-5 unless the materials they choose align with the age-, developmentally, culturally, and morally inappropriate leftist National Sex Education Standards.

• Lilly should explain which stigmas she seeks to reduce because this bill stigmatizes the moral views of many Illinoisans.

State Representative Delia Ramirez (D-Chicago) asked Lilly if it were true that the Illinois State Board of Education and the Illinois Association of School Boards are “neutral on the bill,” to which Lilly responded “Yes.” Then in an amusing and obvious manipulation of rhetoric, Ramirez changed the word “neutral,” saying, “So, educators don’t oppose the bill.” Well, it’s equally correct to say, “So, educators don’t support the bill.”

It would be interesting to poll anonymously all K-5 teachers in the state, asking if they are in favor of being required to teach about homosexuality, bisexuality, co-habitation, masturbation, cross-sex impersonation, hormone-blockers, and gender expansiveness in personal health and safety lessons.

And we should ask if they think there should be a law prohibiting all teaching on personal health and safety unless it includes those topics. No discussions of healthy eating permitted unless they’re accompanied by affirming discussions of cross-dressing, hormone-blocking, and self-pleasuring.

State Representative Maurice West (D-Rockford) apparently derives his hearty support for requiring public school teachers to instruct 5-year-olds in the intricacies of masturbation and 11-year-olds about anal sex from TLC’s programs about hoarders and obese people:

We view television shows on TLC like Hoarders, My 600-Pound Life, just for example, where they often recall their childhood experience with shame, emptiness, guilt, confusion from their dealings with that word: sex. This legislation’s primary focus is not about the birds and the bees. It’s about equipping our children with age-appropriate conversations about how they can be empowered within themselves.

Well, West is right on one thing: This bill is definitely not about the birds and the bees.

Maybe, just maybe, it’s not the job of education majors to sexually “empower” other people’s children with the pagan sexual beliefs of regressives.

Two questions for West and all leftists:

1.) Since when did it become the task, pedagogical obligation, or right of public school teachers to solve all societal ills?

2.) Are there any pedagogical, ethical, moral, emotional, or psychological problems potentially created by introducing sexual imagery, ideas, and beliefs to other people’s children who have never been abused or shamed and whose parents have successfully protected them from ideas they—the parents—believe are age-, developmentally, culturally, and morally inappropriate?

In case parents don’t yet realize it, this newest bill is centrally about normalizing homosexuality and “trans”-cultic beliefs and practices. In yet another statement made with a voice quivering with faux-emotion, lesbian activist with a burnt soul, State Representative Kelly Cassidy, made that clear:

For far too long, LGBTQ youth were either invisible or expressly stigmatized. And I remember that. It burned into my soul. …  I remember that. … And as a kid who didn’t understand why I didn’t fit in, who couldn’t define why I felt different, and whose parents were not an option to go to, I wish I had had a teacher I could turn to. I wish I had had a curriculum that didn’t call me unnatural.

The presumptuous Cassidy demands that public schools affirm her arguable belief that homosexuality is natural, and if parents disagree, Cassidy wants the state to come in between them and their children.

State Representative Ann Williams (D-Chicago) made this boneheaded statement:

[I]t’s hard to imagine why anyone would think our children should not learn about sex education in school, but rather should refer to the internet or Google to determine what sex is or what their questions are and get them answered there. Right now, if you Google any of these terms related to sex education, you’re going to get a lot more explicit information than anything would be provided in a curriculum.

Phew. I guess Illinois parents should thank Democrats. At least curricula aligned with leftist standards won’t be as bad as what kids can find on the Internet.

It’s unfortunate that Williams suffers from such a dearth of imagination. It’s true, many people don’t think children should learn about sex in public schools. Here’s something else that may surprise the unimaginative Williams. Many people don’t think children should be learning about sex in co-ed classes in public schools. They believe that talking about menstruation and nocturnal emissions in co-ed classes can be embarrassing, inhibit discussions, and undermine the virtue of modesty.

Poor Williams suffers too from an inability to reason logically. Suggesting that there exists only the choice between public schools and the Internet is a classic example of the fallacy of the false dilemma. In addition to leftist-controlled public schools and the Internet, there are parents, grandparents, churches, libraries, and bookstores that can and do educate children on sex. It is not the business of the government to step in and expose all children to assumption-riddled claims about sexuality because some parents are derelict in their responsibilities.

Here’s a modest proposal: Rather than devouring the hearts and minds of other people’s little ones, how about schools offer two classes in personal health and safety—a perversion-positive class and a truly age-appropriate class. The class descriptions should include all materials used, the name of all organizations that constructed the materials, all the standards employed by those organizations, and all the criteria used to determine what constitutes age-, developmental, and cultural appropriateness. Let parents opt-in to whichever class they want or none at all. And allow teachers to choose which class they want to teach. With their deep commitments to diversity, inclusivity, cultural sensitivity, and choice, leftists should love this modest proposal.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send a message to Gov. Pritzker’s administrative staff to urge him to VETO SB 818 as a terrible overreach of government. Impressionable students in public schools should not be exposed to body- and soul-destroying messages that promote leftist beliefs about sexuality.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Dumb-Things-Dems-Said-in-Sex-Ed-Floor-Debate.mp3

I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings to hardworking Illinoisans—which, by definition, excludes members of the Chicago Teachers’ Union—but there’s more news on the education front. Lefty swamp creatures in Springfield wallowing in their own presumptuousness and power have yet more changes in store for the unfortunate Illinois school children who haven’t yet been freed from the re-education camps that self-identify as schools.

The newest offenses from Springfield are buried in the thousands of words of a new bill just signed into law by Governor J. B. Pritzker on Monday March 8, 2021.

The first offense is providing general revenue funds to be used for the creation of a network of Chicago Freedom Schools (CFS) which will be breeding grounds for leftist social activists. This is an official photo from the school. Currently, Chicago has one Freedom School—a non-profit organization—which opened its doors to budding young social justice warriors in 2007. But leftists believe that one CFS and all public schools are not creating nearly enough community agitators.

The law states,

The State Board of Education shall establish a Freedom School network to supplement the learning taking place in public schools by creating a 6-week summer program. … A Freedom School shall intentionally and imaginatively implement strategies that focus on … Racial justice and equity. … The Freedom Schools Fund is created as a special fund in the State treasury. the [sic] Fund shall consist of appropriations from the General Revenue Fund, grant funds from the federal government, and donations from educational and private foundations.

The CFS makes clear its BLM/Critical Race Theory mission and tactics:

CFS uses social justice and anti-oppression practices to work to transform oppression into liberation by naming, analyzing, implementing and teaching actions that dismantle systems of supremacy that give power and privileges to some at the expense of others.

CFS invites “young leaders of color ages 13-17” who are “passionate about social justice” to apply for a Freedom Fellowship in order to build “community organizing skills” and “become community change-makers” by exploring current issues such as racism and climate change in order to “develop skills” for “dismantling injustice.” I’m not sure, but I think limiting government-subsidized fellowships to leaders “of color” might be racist and violate anti-discrimination law.

The CFS’s Summer Leadership Institute studies “issues of systemic oppression like racism, heterosexism, food justice, the school to prison pipelines, sexism, and more.” Something tells me that discussions of the pipeline to prison don’t include discussions of premarital sex, out-of-wedlock pregnancy, and fatherlessness.

  2019 CFS fundraiser entertainment

Let your fingers do the walking right on over to the Chicago Freedom School’s Facebook page and take a gander at the photos of the school that your taxes will now be used to replicate all around Chicago. Check out the photos of their November 2019 fundraiser titled Moments of Justice: Unmasking Our Ancestral Gifts. By “unmasking,” they evidently mean unclothing, and by “gifts,” they evidently mean—well, you can see for yourself.

The man in the furry black vest is homosexual activist Tony Alverado-Rivera who is the executive director of Chicago’s only Freedom School. He wants to defund police, abolish ICE, and remove Chicago Police from dangerous Chicago schools. CFS supports “trans”-cultism and BLM, and offers workshops to help other leftist agitators build “social justice practices” into their schools, which presumably includes public schools.

And now, thanks to leftists in Springfield and the taxes of Illinoisans, Chicago won’t have just one ideological factory churning out activists; Illinois will have an entire network. And to make matters worse, it appears the law grants carte blanche to the reliably leftist Illinois State Board of Education to implement the Freedom Schools project for creating social justice change-agents:

The State Board of Education may adopt any rules necessary to implement this Section. (emphasis added)

The new law also includes a change in the school code regarding what must be taught during Black History Month. The school code already required every elementary, middle, and high school to teach a unit that addresses the following:

[T]he events of Black History, including the history of the African slave trade, slavery in America, and the vestiges of slavery in this country. These events shall include not only the contributions made by individual African-Americans in government and in the arts, humanities and sciences to the economic, cultural and political development of the United States and Africa, but also the socio-economic struggle which African-Americans experienced collectively in striving to achieve fair and equal treatment under the laws of this nation.

Further, existing law said, “The studying of this material shall [must] constitute an affirmation by students of their commitment to respect the dignity of all races and peoples and to forever eschew every form of discrimination in their lives and careers.”

While many Illinois schools haven’t yet been able through the study of “material” to get students to affirm the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic, lawmakers think they will be able to get them to “forever eschew every form of discrimination in their lives and careers.” Wowzer!

As noble a goal as ensuring students forever eschew every form of discrimination in their lives and careers is, is that really the role and responsibility of government employees? And is there a comprehensive list of every form of discrimination that leftist lawmakers believe students must be indoctrinated to eschew in their lives and careers?

Remember, Springfield swampsters and their leftist allies on the Illinois State Board of Education believe that disapproval of volitional homosexual acts is a form of discrimination. The belief that marriage is by nature a sexually differentiated union is a form of discrimination. The belief that biological men—also known as men—don’t belong in women’s sports or locker rooms is a form of discrimination.

But, the social justice despots who rule Illinois are nowhere near done tinkering with laws in order to manipulate the minds of other people’s children. The new law adds the following to everything else that must be taught to Illinois children in order to satiate leftists who want to use public schools to turn children’s hearts against America and turn children into social justice warriors. Now, the Black History unit will have to include,

[T]he history of the pre-enslavement of Black people from 3,000 BCE to AD 1619 … the study of the reasons why Black people came to be enslaved … and the study of the American civil rights renaissance.

This change to the study of black history constitutes a means to weasel controversial 1619 Project ideas into curricula without Illinoisans realizing it.

Classroom time does not permit any public K-12 school to teach the history of any country or identity group comprehensively. The partisan view that K-12 schools should teach about “the pre-enslavement of Black people from 3,000 BCE to AD 1619” is both absurd and doctrinaire. Why just the history of blacks from that period? And why those specific dates? Well, we know why the dates. They’re lifted straight out of the much-condemned 1619 Project written by non-historian New York Times writer /social justice agitator Nikole Hannah-Jones.

If public schools are going to mandate the “study of the reasons why Black people came to be enslaved,” are they going to require that students study those reasons in context of the worldwide history of slavery and the participation of African blacks in the slave trade? Are they going to make clear that more black slaves were sold to Europe, South America, and the Caribbean than to the United States? Are they going to require students study the history of the role of Christianity in the abolition movement? Will resources used include those by conservative blacks like Carol Swain, Thomas Sowell, Shelby Steele, and John McWhorter?

Doubtful, because the goal of leftists is not historical accuracy or exploring diverse ideas. Their goal is partisan politics.

There will be no satiating the swamp creatures in Springfield who, in cahoots with leftist “educators,” are drowning government schools in leftist ideology, thereby turning education into indoctrination and Illinois children into leftist activists.

Read more:

Despite Nationwide Condemnation, Illinois Passes Leftist Teacher-Training Mandate (Laurie Higgins)

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Another-Woke-Education-Law-Just-Signed-by-Pritzker.mp3

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Many government officials and progressives in Illinois like to tout the state as being a leader in championing women’s rights. In April 2020, a report in the Chicago Tribune showed a shocking backlog of rape kits waiting to be tested by the Illinois State Police (ISP). Women across the state have suffered for years waiting for the DNA of their attackers to be tested in hopes of having their cases solved and their violators brought to justice. Since that report brought the problem to the public’s attention, the ISP has made progress, but there are many kits still to be tested with more rape crimes adding to that number.

Applying ISP data from the end of March, Tribune reported 7,009 kits were waiting in line to be tested, with a processing time of 247 days. The wait time had grown from 194 days in February due to reduced staffing to meet social-distancing guidelines caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

How did we get here?

The story begins in 2002, when the backlog was at close to 3,000 kits. The General Assembly tasked the Illinois State Police with the distribution, collection, analysis, and maintenance of rape kits through the passage of the Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Program (SB 3095). It wasn’t until 2003 that lawmakers added the cost of the program into the ISP’s budget. 

In 2010, the Assembly enacted SB 3296, a rape kit reform bill, requiring law enforcement agencies to submit any sexual assault evidence it receives within 10 business days of receipt to the Department of State Police. The bill further stated the evidence should be analyzed within six months “after receipt of all necessary evidence and standards by the State Police Laboratory or other designated laboratory if sufficient staffing and resources are available.” It also included a one-time statewide performance audit.

The Accountability Project performed a voluntary audit of the Champaign, Chicago, Springfield, and Urbana police departments in 2015, which failed to receive a response from the Chicago Police Department, and inadequate submission rates from the other cities. In 2016, The Chicago Sun-Times reported a backlog of 2,179 of kits. In response, the General Assembly enacted another law, SB 2221, that would require annual audits of rape kit submissions in an effort to increase accountability. That same year, survivors were given access to the status of their rape kits through SB3096.

Subsequent laws were passed in 2017, 2018, and 2019 to provide greater rights to survivors of sexual assault including providing them with advocates, counseling options, and increasing the number of medical professionals trained to perform patient exams. These included the assignment of the ISP with creating and maintaining a statewide sexual assault evidence kit tracking system accessible to survivors. Legally, the system was to be in place by August 16, 2020, but as with many things, the pandemic happened.

For a complete list of the bills, visit the End The Backlog website.

Where things stand now

In late September, the ISP announced its new online database of sexual abuse survivors, Checkpoint. The database allows sexual assault survivors to track their case evidence. There is, however, a hitch: the database starts with cases from August 14 of this year. No cases prior to that date are included in the database. In addition, 14% of the state’s hospitals have yet to sign on to using the new system.

The April article in the Chicago Tribune did much to raise public consciousness and pressure the ISP, as did the looming August legal deadline. In a September 2, 2020 update, the Tribune reported the ISP had reduced the backlog by 31% to 5,811 by July 31. The average turnaround time had gone down from 247 days in March to 210 in August. The article attributed the reduction to “a new computer system, using robots to extract DNA and outsourcing cases to be processed elsewhere.”

While this all sounds like good news, the Chicago Justice Project (CJP) says not so fast. On November 16, it released a report stating the number of backlogged cases has actually increased by 46% at the Chicago Forensic Laboratory testing site.

Among the reasons for its findings, the CJP report cites definitions and interpretations: “The ISP now defines backlog as any unfinished assignment (i.e., work requested on a case) in a section, regardless of when it was submitted. In previous years, the backlog was defined as unfinished cases (in-progress or un-started) in the section for more than 30 days.” Additionally, discrepancies in testing DNA biology and forensic biology caused further confusion. The report issued suggestions to the Chicago lab and ISP for cutting the backlog and improving transparency.

Last year, Governor J.B. Pritzker appointed a Forensic Science Task Force, which issued a report in July. The task force suggested the appointment of a permanent commission and more funding, along with further training, better procurement, and increased communication.

For nearly 20 years, elected officials and other government leaders have worked to resolve this issue of justice. Instead, while trying to correct and improve previous laws, they seem only to have created a more complicated morass of laws. Politicians’ endless law-making has created what must feel to survivors like an unending circle that needs to be broken.

While society has grown more understanding and aware, and the options and treatment for survivors have greatly increased, the need to end the backlog and bring justice to survivors continues. It is hoped that our leaders would quit making laws and announcing edicts but would instead allocate resources that would enable personnel to move quickly to bring justice for survivors.