I wrote this last Friday:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

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

SB 25 Roll Call

As you may know, our state lawmakers returned to the Capitol late Sunday afternoon to begin their last week of regular session, which is scheduled to end on Friday, May 31st. At 6:08 PM, SB 25 (House Amendment 1) was posted and then scheduled for a hearing at 7:08 PM. This proposal, sponsored by State Representative Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) is very similar to the extreme abortion expansion legislation filed by her earlier this year.

It should be noted that this bill was posted and scheduled in the absolute minimum amount of time required to be considered in the Illinois General Assembly and done on a Sunday night in the middle of Memorial Day weekend. Proponents were somehow prepared, however, with legal and medical witnesses to testify and a small group of melodramatic activists wearing handmaid costumes (see picture above) to boot.

State Rep. Tom Demmer (R-Dixon), Deputy Republican Leader and Minority Spokesmen for the Appropriations-Human Services Committee, pointed out at the outset of the hearing that “this bill, which is not an appropriations bill, was sent to an appropriations committee of the House. This bill does not make any appropriations for the state; it is a substantive bill. But it was sent to this committee.” His complaints fell on deaf ears.

For approximately two hours, the committee heard testimony from proponents and opponents, and the sponsor fielded questions from members of the committee. Unfortunately, Committee Chairperson Robyn Gabel (D-Evanston), cut questions short. To this point, State Representative Avery Bourne (R-Litchfield), strenuously complained that she had many more questions to ask about the legislation and pointed out that the committee process was the right place to do it. Yet, questions and answers were severely truncated.

You can watch the entire hearing on the IFI YouTube channel.

In the end, SB 25 was passed out of committee by a vote of 12-7 along party lines. It now moves to the Illinois House floor where it is already on 3rd reading (conveniently teed up) and could be called for a vote of the full Illinois House today or anytime this week.

PRAY: If you believe, as we do at IFI, that our “struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places,” then you recognize the centrality and indispensability of prayer in circumstances like this. Without a doubt, this is a spiritual battle and well beyond our human control. Frankly, given the makeup of the General Assembly, it looks impossible to stop this bill. But since we serve a God who specializes in doing the impossible, our prayers and petitions must flood His throne room with appeals for our pre-born neighbors throughout this week:

Pray that proponents of this destructive legislation would not be able garner the 60 votes needed to pass from the Illinois House to the Illinois Senate.

Pray that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and in both chambers would be troubled by the scope of this legislation.

Pray that lawmakers would understand that pre-born babies, just like their own children and grandchildren, are “fearfully and wonderfully made” in the image of God. Human beings are His crown jewel of creation as they are made in the image and likeness of God.

Pray that lawmakers would recognize that abortion extinguishes a human life with great potential.

Pray for Almighty God’s intervention in this situation in Springfield. Pray Psalm 108:12-13.

Take ACTION: If you are able to fast and pray today, please join me in doing so, yet we cannot stop there. We still must act by calling our state representative today to urge him/her to reject SB 25, the grotesquely misnamed “Reproductive Health Act.” Click HERE to find their contact information. Your state senator and state rep. are the last two on the page. Please call today! The Capitol switchboard number is (217) 782-2000.

You can also call Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) and respectfully appeal to his staff not to expand abortion or repeal parental notification through the passage of SB 25. Please call his Springfield office at (217) 782-5350.

You can (and should) also send an email your state lawmakers:

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

P.S. We continue to watch for final action on other bills (among others): “recreational” marijuana (SB 7), the anti-IFI resolution (HJR 55), gambling expansion (HB 1260, HB 3308, and SB 516), and a plethora of other tax and fee increases. Pray that these bills fall short of the votes they need to pass.

A bold voice for pro-family values in Illinois!

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

With a cringe-worthy, faux-earnest expression, State Representative Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) explained at Thursday’s press conference to promote her radical abortion bill the meaning of the necklace she prominently wore—a necklace adorned with a coat hanger:

My necklace is a little gold wire hanger…. It’s a reminder of what can happen in a post-Roe world.

Her little gold coat hanger symbolizes the illegal abortions she fears will kill women if they are prohibited from legally offing their offspring. So, let’s examine the issue of pre-Roe, voluntarily sought illegal abortions that occasionally resulted in maternal deaths—as distinct from abortions that almost always result in the deaths of human “fetuses,” none of whom had a say in their mother’s choice to have them killed.

As cited in an article on the website Abort73, the CDC reported that,

In 1972 (the year before abortion was federally legalized), a total of 24 women died from causes known to be associated with legal abortions, and 39 died as a result of known illegal abortions.

Here’s more interesting information from the pro-human slaughter, gangrenous Guttmacher Institute:

In 1930, abortion was listed as the official cause of death for almost 2,700 women…. The death toll had declined to just under 1,700 by 1940, and to just over 300 by 1950 (most likely because of the introduction of antibiotics in the 1940s, which permitted more effective treatment of the infections that frequently developed after illegal abortion). By 1965, the number of deaths due to illegal abortion had fallen to just under 200.

Compare those numbers of tragic accidental deaths to the intentional slaughter of 61,000,000 humans in the womb in the United States since 1973 or the 368,000 humans killed in the womb so far in 2019—including 5,520 killings after 21 weeks gestation. I wonder if Cassidy and her accomplices in promoting feticide will shout that stat.

If killing humans in the womb isn’t obscene enough, Springfield regressives decided to add insult to death and dismemberment by having a black woman, State Representative Carol Ammons (D-Champaign) introduce their press conference.

It was obscene—not to mention tone deaf—to have Ammons lead the feticidal charge because as most know, Planned Parenthood (PP)—like its racist, eugenicist founder Margaret Sanger—has set its sights on black babies. A study conducted by the Life Issues Institute “found that 79 percent of abortion-offering Planned Parenthood facilities are within walking distance of black or Hispanic neighborhoods. Sixty-two percent are near black neighborhoods.” While blacks constituted about 13.3  percent of the population in 2014, 36 percent of all abortions were performed on black women.

The difference between Sanger’s goal to rid the world of blacks and Planned Parenthood’s decision to target the babies of women of color is that PP is motivated by greed rather than racism.

Yeah, that’s sooo much better.

At the press conference, Cassidy, the morally vacuous lesbian, “wife” of Candace Gingrich, and sponsor of every culturally destructive legislation to come down and go up the crumbling pike from Springfield said this:

As opponents of reproductive freedom have stepped up their attacks on our access to reproductive health care, it has become very, very clear that Illinois must respond in kind with equal energy behind defending reproductive freedom…. We had a pledge from the speaker that we will be able to move the bill forward, so I am uh looking forward to advancing this bill and getting it over to the Senate. 

Slapping the words “freedom” (or “choice”) on to an issue with nary a mention of the nature of the acts being freely chosen is dishonest and opaque. All decent people know that freedom is not absolute, that not all choices are moral, and that not all choices should be legal.

In the service of sorting truth from the evil Cassidy’s murky euphemistic language is designed to cloak, I will translate her dishonest, opaque words into plain English:

Opponents of the legal right of mothers to hire people to kill their offspring in the womb are having some success and, therefore, Illinois regressives must attack them and their efforts. Regressives must intensify their efforts to defend a legal right to feticide and de facto infanticide. Regressives got a pledge from the thoroughly corrupt Mike Madigan, who rules Madiganistan with a blood-stained fist, to speedily advance this bill by any unethical means possible, preventing due deliberation and preventing those who defend life a chance to marshal their forces against it.

It should be very, very clear that Cassidy and her morally contemptible cronies are mustering their energy to, among other things,

• Legalize the womb-killing of viable, full-term babies for any or no reason

• Compel the public to subsidize human slaughter

• Compel health care providers to facilitate this moral outrage even when doing so violates their consciences and their religious beliefs

• Rob parents of the right to be involved in the life-changing and health-risking decisions of their daughters to have their offspring killed

I wonder what morally regressive Springfield swampsters would say to Nik Hoot whose limbs were ripped off during a botched abortion—you know, when he was a “fetus,” as opposed to a human person. (It’s so weird that the once-bodily-whole human person Nik has a damaged body so like the damaged body of the fetus Nik. I wonder how that happened?)

Maybe pro-life advocates everywhere should wear necklaces from which dangle tiny severed limbs and crushed skulls forged in gold to represent their intrinsic and infinite value—value that regressives in Springfield are too blind to see.

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

Then call their offices. Click HERE to find their contact information. Your state senator and state rep. are the last two on the page. Please call today!

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/hANGER-3-1.mp3

A bold voice for pro-family values in Illinois!

With a cringe-worthy, faux-earnest expression, State Representative Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) explained at Thursday’s press conference to promote her radical abortion bill the meaning of the necklace she prominently wore—a necklace adorned with a coat hanger:

My necklace is a little gold wire hanger…. It’s a reminder of what can happen in a post-Roe world.

Her little gold coat hanger symbolizes the illegal abortions she fears will kill women if they are prohibited from legally offing their offspring. So, let’s examine the issue of pre-Roe, voluntarily sought illegal abortions that occasionally resulted in maternal deaths—as distinct from abortions that almost always result in the deaths of human “fetuses,” none of whom had a say in their mother’s choice to have them killed.

Read more…

State Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago) and State Representative Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) have spent 2 years developing and promoting their proposal to legalize “recreational” marijuana in Illinois. On May 7th, their 533-page bill (SB 7) was introduced in the Illinois Senate.

Last week the Senate Executive Committee held a 2.5 hour subject matter hearing on this bill, and it was alarming to hear how many concerns and questions they were unable to lay to rest.

Michele Ratini, a social worker from a Leyden High school District 212 in Northlake, testified in opposition to legalization, pointing out that teenagers are not smoking cigarettes anymore, but are instead smoking and vaping tobacco and marijuana. She said she is seeing an increased number of students exhibiting paranoia and psychosis.

Dr. Albert Mensah, who runs the Mensah Medical Center, corroborated her statements. But Illinois State Senator Toi Hutchinson (D-Chicago Heights), a strong proponent of legalization, thinks that that is the very reason we should legalize, tax and regulate it.

If students are easily getting the high potency stuff now, how much easier will it be for them to get it once it’s legalized?

To give you a reference point to digest the following information, keep in mind that the Woodstock marijuana of the 1960s and 1970s contained 1-3 mg. of THC (what gets you high). And people back then got plenty high. Today’s marijuana contains 20-25 mg. of THC.

A question was raised in the committee hearing: Will expungements of felony convictions for marijuana allow for someone filling out a Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) or Conceal Carry form to indicate “No” on whether they have ever been convicted of a felony? (Keep in mind that the vast majority of inmates in prison for possession charges have plea-bargained down from more serious felony crimes.) Illinois Deputy Governor Christian Mitchell, who was representing the governor’s office, answered “Yes.” In other words, convicted felons, whose more serious crime charges were significantly reduced, will have their records automatically expunged.

Also, once you read what the bill will allow, keep in mind that today’s high potency marijuana is directly linked to an increase in mental illness such as psychosis, schizophrenia and violent behavior.

The bill is huge, but here’s a small picture of what SB 7 will do:

• Allow possession of 30 grams of cannabis by anyone 21 and older. By the way, thirty grams is equivalent to 75 joints.

• Allow marijuana-infused edibles containing 500 mg of THC. Colorado limits the THC in edibles to 100 mg.

• Allow possession of 5 grams of concentrates which contain upwards of 99 percent pure THC.

• Allow homes to grow up to 5 plants. One plant can yield ½ lb (226 grams) and can be harvested 4 times per year. Five plants times 4 harvests would yield 10 lbs. or over 11,000 joints. There is absolutely no way to regulate this, per law enforcement who testified. This is why Colorado’s black market is surging.

• Provides $20 million in low-interest loans for “social equity applicants” who have been “disproportionately impacted” by discriminatory drug policies. These are your recently convicted felons. Based on their point system, if you have been convicted of any offense eligible for expungement, you automatically have 25 points.

• Provides a waiver of 50 percent of startup costs for “social equity applicants” who have been “disproportionately impacted” by discriminatory drug policies.

• Identifies disproportionately impacted areas (i.e., minority communities) for dispensary locations.

• Institutes a cannabis purchaser tax (note: it’s the regulations and taxation that cause the black market to thrive by selling it cheaper):

10 percent on cannabis with a THC level at or below 35 percent

20 percent on cannabis infused products

25 percent on cannabis with THC level above 35 percent

3 percent Municipal Purchaser Tax

0.24 percent County Tax

3.5 percent Unincorporated Area Tax

• No marijuana dispensaries or advertising within 1,500 ft of a school, playground, hospital, park, childcare center. (That’s only about 1 ½ blocks, but they could keep it a mile away and kids and teens would still be exposed.)

• Allocation of revenue:

35 percent General Revenue Fund

25 percent Restoring Our Communities Fund (Apparently, once you flood the “disproportionately impacted” communities with more drugs, you throw some money their way. But I digress.)

20 percent Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services

10 percent Budget Stabilization Fund (There’s an oxymoron if I ever saw one.)

8 percent Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board

2 percent Drug Treatment Fund for public education and awareness

• Local Ordinances – Municipalities may enact reasonable zoning restrictions pertaining to licensed cultivation centers, craft growers, processing organizations, and dispensaries. (The definition of “reasonable” has not been defined, according to last week’s hearing.)

Major Omission

There are no limits to THC levels in what SB 7 will allow. The Dutch government has walked back their liberal drug policies because of the problems they have encountered with high levels of THC. They now consider 15 percent or higher as a hard drug, alongside opioids and ecstasy. That should tell us how serious and dangerous it is to legalize high potency marijuana as “recreational.”

SB 7, as you can see from the proposed taxation schedule, has no limits. High THC levels are linked to an increase in mental illness, especially psychosis and schizophrenia, as well as being responsible for the increase in hospitalizations and ER visits. SB 7 also allows for concentrates, or extracts, which are sticky substances produced via distillation and containing upward of 99 percent THC.

Take ACTION: Please click HERE to send a message to your state senator and state representative to urge them to reject the push for legal marijuana.

Additionally, PLEASE CALL your lawmakers to make sure they know that many people oppose this disastrous policy. Click HERE for their names and phone numbers, which you will find at the end of the state list. Please make the calls!

Watch more:

Please visit IFI YouTube channel and this video playlist dedicated to the opposition of marijuana legalization.

Read more:

Thinking Biblically About Recreational Marijuana

Cannabis Myths Exposed

Medical Doctor from Peoria Opposes Legal Pot

ER Doc Says “Recreational” Pot Has Ruined My Town

IFI Resource Page on Marijuana

Former State Rep. Jeanne Ives Address Marijuana & Illinois’ Economic Crisis (podcast)

More info:

NoWeedIllinois.com

A bold voice for pro-family values in Illinois!

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

Illinois state lawmakers are on spring break for the next two weeks. Many of them have announced “in-district” work hours. This is a great time to get an appointment with your state representative and senator to talk to them about your concerns, especially your concerns about these extreme anti-life bills which would expand abortion’s reach in our state:

• HB 2495 and SB 1942, wrongly named the Reproductive Health Act(s) and sponsored by State Representative Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) and State Senator Melinda Bush (D-Grayslake), will repeal the 1975 Illinois Abortion law, will repeal the Partial Birth Abortion Ban, and will remove any and all regulations for clinics that commit abortions. These bills are so extreme that they allow for non-medical individuals to commit abortions in places other than medical clinics.

• HB 2467 and SB 1594, sponsored by State Representative Chris Emmanuel Welch (D-Westchester) and State Senator Elgie Sims (D-Chicago), will repeal the Parental Notice of Abortion Act of 1995, which only requires notification–not consent–thereby allowing young girls to have secret abortions.

The good news is the two House bills have stalled during the current session. The bad news is that SB 1594 has passed out of a senate committee and pro-abortion activists at Planned Parenthood are planning a lobby day for May 1st in hopes of jump-starting some momentum for these bills.

It should not be lost on anyone that our left-wing opponents picked May 1st — “May Day” — for this day of action. “May Day” is also known as International Workers’ Day and recognized by Socialists and Marxists around the world, often with military parades and/or political protests. (Read more HERE.)

In response to their lobby day, Illinois Family Institute is calling on all of our subscribers to join us on that day in flooding the Capitol with phone calls to stand for the unborn. We are calling on you and your like-minded friends to join us on “May Day Meltdown.” We hope to jam the phone lines with calls going into our state lawmakers offices with strong appeals to kill these bills. If all of our subscribers made three calls during the business day on May 1st–one to Governor JB Pritzker, one to your state senator and your state representative–it would send a clear, strong message that we are not going away and we refuse to remain silent.

So mark your calendars for “May Day Meltdown” on May 1st. Click HERE for their political leaders’ contact information. Your state senator and representative are the last two listed on the page.

While you are waiting for May 1st to arrive, there is something else you can do right now:

Take ACTION:  Click HERE to send a message to your state senator, state representative and to Gov. Pritzker. Ask them to stop targeting innocent pre-born children and vulnerable women in Illinois. Ask your state senator, state representative and Gov. Pritzker to oppose all anti-life legislation.

A bold voice for pro-family values in Illinois!

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

To fulfill Governor J.B. Pritzker’s dream to make Illinois a slaughterhouse extraordinaire and the abortion mecca of the Midwest, that ever-reliable instigator of moral mayhem, State Representative Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago), has sponsored a bill that would put a twinkle in the eye of Kermit Gosnell. The absurdly named Reproductive Health Act—or as I call it, the Baby Butchery Bill, which has little to do with reproducing and nothing to do with health—was introduced in the Illinois House by Cassidy and now has 40 accomplices. Two days later Melinda Bush (D-Grayslake) introduced it in the Illinois Senate. She now has 4 accomplices.

For those unfamiliar with Cassidy, she’s a lesbian whose “spouse” is Newt Gingrich’s half-sister, “genderqueer” Candace Gingrich, an instigator of moral mayhem herself. She’s a leftist ideologue and Associate Director of the Youth and Campus Engagement Program of the Human Rights Campaign who refers to herself by plural pronouns. Cassidy, obsessed with using government resources to promote deviant sexuality, supports all sorts of lousy body-, soul-, family-, and culture-destroying legislation.

According to constitutional attorney Paul Linton, Cassidy’s nightmarish 120-page bill (HB 2495) will increase the numbers of weak, vulnerable humans who will have their bodies destroyed by adults who ironically claim to worship bodily autonomy. Here are some of the things Cassidy’s Baby Butchery Bill will do according to Linton:

• eliminate any restrictions on post-viability abortions and allow abortions for any reason whatsoever throughout all nine months of pregnancy

• eliminate any requirement that the person performing a post-viability abortion use a method of abortion that would enhance the chances of the unborn child surviving the abortion [thus providing evidence that women aren’t fighting for the right to terminate a pregnancy but rather to kill their babies]

• eliminate the requirement that a second physician be present to provide immediate medical care for any child born alive as a result of a post-viability abortion

• eliminate any restrictions on where abortions may be performed

• allow non-physicians to perform abortions, both surgical and medical

• allow women to attempt to abort their own pregnancies regardless of potential health risks

• undermine institutional and individual rights of conscience

• provide a basis to nullify regulations governing the operation of abortion clinics

• allow DCFS to use public funds to pay for abortions

• require health insurance policies to include coverage for all abortions, with no exemptions, even for churches and other religious organizations

• jeopardize enforcement of the Parental Notice of Abortion Act of 1995 (which is the subject of separate bills that would expressly repeal the Act)

• eliminate any requirement to investigate fetal deaths or maternal deaths resulting from abortions or to record fetal deaths resulting from abortions

• impose no restrictions on fetal experimentation

• provide a basis for barring any common law cause of action for prenatal injuries and any statutory action for the wrongful death of an unborn child

When it comes to the legalized slaughter of inconvenient or imperfect babies in their 6^th through 9^th month of life in the womb, eager Baby Butchery-Choice advocates like Cassidy and her 40 accomplices prefer to focus on percentages rather than numbers. They will exploit whatever tactic may help conceal the unmitigated evil of abortion. Instead of percentages, let’s look at numbers to help expose the truth.

In the United States, there have been 61,000,000 abortions committed since 1973—a year that will live in infamy. It is estimated that 1.3% of those babies were killed after 21 weeks gestation. That means 793,000 10-inch-long babies with fingers, toes, hearts, and brains have been killed since 1973.

Imagine the caterwauling of Leftists if, over the past 45 years, 793,000 guilty death row inmates had been executed and had been executed by having scissors inserted in the back of their skulls, their brains scrambled, and skulls crushed; or had their bodies torn into pieces; or had their hearts stopped via an injection of potassium chloride, all of which are done to babies after 21 weeks of gestation.

It’s important to note that the government does not permit the administration of potassium chloride to criminals guilty of heinous crimes without first administering powerful sedatives because, as pharmacologist and toxicologist David Kroll explains in Forbes Magazine, “If given alone without the other drugs, the high concentration of potassium chloride would be terribly painful, akin to fire or electricity coursing through the veins.”

It’s important to note also that experts say that by 20 weeks gestation or earlier, babies can experience pain and that fetal surgeons administer anesthesia and analgesics (i.e., painkillers) to unborn babies undergoing surgery.

Leftists relentlessly defend abortion by asserting that pregnant women have the absolute right to make decisions concerning their bodies. This, of course, requires proof that abortion involves only the bodies of pregnant women—a patently false, science-denying claim. If abortion really involves only one body and the owner of that body is entitled to do with it as she pleases, then shouldn’t “progressives” defend the moral right of women to take Accutane or drink alcohol throughout their pregnancies? Is it coherent to argue that while a woman has a right to kill the purportedly non-existent body within her body, she is ethically obligated not to ingest anything that would “harm” the purportedly non-existent body within her body? Either her bodily autonomy rights are absolute or they’re not. Either there are two bodies or there aren’t.

As science continues to prove the falsity of their claims, Baby Butchery-Choice advocates are being forced to move away from hard science for the foundation of their arguments and move into metaphysics. Now, they argue that, sure, the product of conception between two humans is a human, but it’s not a person with rights until…

Yeah, we’re all waiting on pins and needles for morally-compromised metaphysician Cassidy et al to explain that. Is the product of conception a person with rights when she can feel pain? Breathe on her own? Show evidence of self-awareness? Are her rights dependent on her anatomical wholeness, her physiological health, or on how others feel about her? Are her rights dependent on her cost to others? Shouldn’t Cassidy and her colluders answer these questions before they make Baby Butchery even easier?

Already, Illinois permits abortion through all nine months if a doctor concludes that a woman’s “health” is jeopardized by the continuation of a pregnancy, with “health” defined so elastically as to include virtually any reason. But that’s not enough for the self-centered and amoral among us. Everyone with the capacity to think through the logical implications of an argument knows where we’re headed. If late-term abortions of babies—not fetuses—are ethically justified by the presence of physical anomalies, terminal conditions, the emotional state of their mothers, or their mothers’ fiscal concerns, why aren’t post-natal abortions (i.e., infanticide) of newborns or week-old or month-old babies justified by those same factors?

Every Republican who claims that the reductively called “social issues” are less important than tax rates or pension reform is culpable for the noxious political and moral climate that is killing us. Every Republican who defers to GOP leaders who claim that party unity and political “wins” demand silence and capitulation on the “social issues” is culpable for the increasingly brazen and foul demands for de facto infanticide. Every Republican who has skittered nervously away from saying it is evil to permit the intentional killing of babies in the womb who were conceived via criminal acts is culpable for the political power of the intellectually incoherent and morally vacuous whose consciences are so seared they cheer and shout for death.

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

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IL-abortion-article.mp3

A bold voice for pro-family values in Illinois!

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

Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and Personal PAC have joined forces, once again, to eradicate any and all limits on killing babies in Illinois, absurdly claiming that Illinois’ parental notice law is “dangerous” and “unnecessary.”

The push comes from Governor JB Pritzker’s office and has materialized in the form of two bills. In a press conference, State Representative Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago), chief sponsor in the Illinois House for the grossly misnamed Reproductive Health Act (HB 2495), stated, “We know that there is a movement today to limit access to reproductive health care. We want to reflect our values in Illinois and trust women.”

Well, she got one thing tacitly right. Those who wield power in Illinois have barbaric “values” that include utter disregard for the bodily integrity, dignity and sanctity of humans in the womb.

In fear of Roe v. Wade being overturned, they will do everything in their power to preserve the non-existent moral “right” to slaughter inconvenient and imperfect humans in Illinois. According to speakers at the February 12th press conference, their bills will do the following:

• Repeal the Illinois Abortion Law of 1975 including criminal penalties on doctors who commit abortion

• Repeal the Partial Birth Abortion ban, which allows babies to be killed up to the time of birth

• Remove any and all regulations on clinics that commit abortion

• Repeal the Parental Notification Act of 1995

State Representative Emanuel Chris Welch (D-Westchester) is the chief sponsor of the HB 2467, a proposal to repeal the Parental Notice of Abortion Act of 1995. This law only requires notification—not consent. But pro-abortion advocates don’t want anything—not even parents—to hinder a child’s ability to have her baby killed. Liz Higgins, Planned Parenthood Associate Medical Director, stated, “Planned Parenthood and our partners are not going to let this become a country where people can no longer access abortion.” This includes our daughters. The government is once again interfering in familial relationships in order to advance Leftist “values.”

This must be stopped. Planned Parenthood and the ACLU will stop at nothing to achieve their body-and soul-destroying goals. If we fail to do everything in our power to block the passage of these bills, we become complicit in the destruction of countless more innocent lives.

How much longer will God stay his wrath on this state for shedding innocent blood?

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

A bold voice for pro-family values in Illinois!

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

How did they vote?

On Wednesday evening, the Illinois House of Representatives voted 72 to 45 to ratify SJRCA 4, a completely unnecessary proposal to amend the U.S. Constitution to eradicate sex as a legitimate characteristic on which to base reasonable distinctions.

Click HERE to see how your state representative voted on this legislation, or look at the graphic below.

For more than two hours, state lawmakers debated this issue. The fact that this legislation says nothing about women didn’t dissuade 15 legislators from rising to the microphone to express their support. These advocates included the sponsor, Lou Lang (D-Skokie), Ann Williams (D-Chicago), David Harris (R-Arlington Heights), Steve Andersson (R-Geneva), Stephanie Kifowit (D-Aurora), Laura Fine (D-Glenview), Christine Winger (R-Bloomingdale), Sue Scherer (D-Decatur), Emmanuel Welch (D-Chicago), Carol Ammons (D-Chicago), Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago), Christian Mitchell (D-Chicago), Dan Brady (R-Bloomington), and Juliana Stratton (D-Chicago).

It is interesting to note that both State Representatives Christine Winger and Dan Brady prefaced their remarks by claiming to be pro-life, even though it is well known that Planned Parenthood is a strong proponent of this legislation precisely because it will expand abortion “rights” throughout the nation and dismantle vital abortion restrictions—including parental notification (or consent) laws.

On the pro-life/pro-family side, eight state lawmakers rose to speak against the ERA, including Pete Breen (R-Lombard), Allen Skillicorn (R-Crystal Lake), Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton), Mary Flowers (D-Chicago), Tom Morrison (R-Palatine), Terry Bryant (R-Mt. Vernon), and Rita Mayfield (D-Waukegan).

Proponents of the ERA claim that they need one more state to ratify this constitutional amendment for complete victory, even though the deadline for passage expired decades ago and even though five states have voted to rescind their ratification over the years it has been pending. If one more state votes for its passage, the issue will certainly wind up in the courts.

In addition to proponents of the legalized slaughter of human beings in the womb, there is another constituency that is celebrating tonight: people who masquerade as the sex they are not.

Thanks for nothing to the 72 feckless state representatives who demonstrated again why Illinois is such a sorry state.

The official roll call of this vote:

Equality Illinois, Illinois’ most prominent cheerleader for all things sexually deviant—especially doctrinaire and destructive legislation—is cheering the reintroduction of a bill that would make it even easier for gender-dysphoric persons to have their birth certificates legally falsified.

House Bill 1785, the “Birth Certificate Designation Act,” introduced by State Representative Greg Harris and co-sponsored by the usual suspects, like Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago), Robyn Gabel (D-Evanston), and Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago), would amend the Vital Records Act to allow those Illinoisans who wish they were the opposite sex to enlist the government in their effort to deceive.

Take ACTION:  Click HERE to send an email message to your state representative to ask him/her to reject HB 1785 and uphold birth certificates as legal documents.  The state of Illinois has no duty or right to make it easier for men and women who wish they were the opposite sex to falsify their birth certificates.

Background
Currently, a sex-rejecting Illinoisan who seeks a falsified birth certificate must present an affidavit from a physician certifying that he or she has performed surgery on the sex-rejecting person. Harris and his accomplices seek to make this process easier by allowing doctors, advanced practice nurses, physician assistants, and licensed mental health professionals from any state provide “declarations” that the patient has “undergone treatment…for the purpose of gender transition.” In an attempt to conceal that this effort enlists government to participate in fraud, the bill’s sponsors change the wording from “sex change” to “change of sex designation,” thereby implicitly acknowledging the science-denying nature of their quest: No one’s sex can change.

For those who are unclear about what this change would mean, we have the confused attorney for the ACLU of Illinois, John Knight (who is suing District 211 on behalf of a boy who wants to be a girl) to offer clarity:

House Bill 1785 protects Illinoisans facing the unnecessary choice between living without a birth certificate that conforms with [sic] who they are and undergoing surgery they may not want or need. The scientific and medical community agrees that surgery is not necessary medical treatment for transgender people and shouldn’t be required to obtain an accurate birth certificate.

It is decidedly not accurate for a birth certificate to state that a person who is objectively male and was identified at birth as such to be changed to state that this person was identified at birth as female.

Many may not know that it can take as little as two visits and filling out some questionnaires for a certified mental health professional to declare that a sex-rejecting 18-year-old has undergone treatment for the purpose of gender transition.

Obama’s Department of Education provides clear evidence of where Leftist thinking is going. His Education Department mandated that schools treat students in every way as if they are the sex they want to be. According to his diktat, no cross-dressing, hormone-doping, or surgical mutilations are needed for students to be treated as if they are the sex they are not. No affidavit from a medical professional certifying that the student is undergoing treatment for gender dysphoria is needed. Not even parental permission can be required in order for a student to access opposite-sex restrooms, locker rooms, and hotel rooms on school-sponsored overnight trips. All that’s required is a student’s declaration that he or she “identifies” as the opposite sex.

That said, it’s critical to remember that cross-dressing, hormone-doping, and surgical mutilations do not turn males into females or vice versa. Compassion and a commitment to truth dictate that we must not treat students who take cross-sex hormones as if they are in reality the sex they are not.

And the government should never be required to participate in a science-denying fiction.

It is staggering to see a modern civilization snookered into accepting (or pretending to accept) the science-denying superstition that surgical tinkering and hormone-doping can turn a man into a woman or vice versa. The ordinary men and women behind the curtain promoting this superstition know full well that no human’s sex can change, so they had to invent new language to confuse and deceive. Thus, we hear the terms “transgender,” “transman,” “transwoman,” “cisgender,” “cisman,” and “cisgender.”

These terms are intended to conceal that humans have an objective, immutable biological sex that cannot change. And these terms are intended to create the illusion that the disordered desire to be the opposite sex (i.e., “transgender”) is ontologically equivalent to being that sex, hence the invention of the term “cisgender.” “Cisgender” refers to people whose “gender identity” (i.e., their subjective feelings about their sex) aligns with their objective, immutable sex. By creating a word that emphasizes subjective feelings about one’s sex rather than one’s sex, Leftists have managed to distract and delude otherwise science-respecting people.

There’s another new word concocted to normalize disordered feelings about one’s sex. That word is “gender marker.” This was invented to smooth passage of laws that permit gender-dysphoric men and women to have their birth certificates legally falsified, thus Equality Illinois’ press release states that current laws allow a person to “correct” the “gender marker” on his or her birth certificate only “if they have undergone a surgical procedure.”

A formerly rational society understood that birth certificates record the sex of a child as identified by a doctor at birth. In a convoluted rhetorical scheme, the Left now says that birth certificates record the “gender marker” that doctors “assign” babies at birth. The ability to get purportedly rational, science-respecting lawmakers to pass laws mandating that government commit fraud depends on the acceptance of this rhetorical non-sense.

What Illinois actually needs is a law prohibiting persons from having the sex designation on their birth certificates changed unless they produce an affidavit from a medical doctor certifying that they have an intersex condition, which are objective diagnosable disorders—wholly distinct from “transgenderism”—that result in “a discrepancy between the external genitals and the internal genitals (the testes and ovaries).” The Left likes to conflate “transgenderism” with intersex disorders in order to muddy the ontological, moral, and political waters.

Anti-nature superstitions cannot endure, so this one will eventually be tossed into the dustbin of history that holds in it scores of other abandoned superstitions. Tragically, countless men, women, and children will suffer before that happens. When that day comes, every activist, school employee, politician, and ordinary citizen who promoted lies or cowardly acquiesced to them will have to confront his or her own culpability for the incalculable damage that will have been done to so many. Don’t be one of those people. Speak truth persistently and courageously.

Read more recent articles from Laurie:

The Radical “Trans”-Formation of America

New Trier High School Avoids Diversity Like the Plague

Highlights Magazine for Children Affirms Homoeroticism

Join IFI at our Feb. 18th Worldview Conference

We are excited about our third annual Worldview Conference featuring world-renowned theologian Dr. Frank Turek on Sat., Feb. 18, 2017 in Barrington. Dr. Turek is s a dynamic speaker and the award-winning author of “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist”

Join us for a wonderful opportunity to take enhance your biblical worldview and equip you to more effectively engage the culture:

Click HERE to learn more or to register!

This bill will put more impaired drivers on the road,
more impaired employees in the workplace
and more children at risk.

Before the regular session ended on May 31st, State Representative Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) and State Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago) were able to pass legislation to decriminalize marijuana. The bill passed in both the Illinois House and Senate. Any day this dubious bill (SB 2228) will be sent to Governor Bruce Rauner, who will then have 60 days to sign it into law or veto it.

SB 2288 reduces criminal penalties from possession of 10 grams or less of marijuana to a civil law violation of $100 to $200. There are no limits to the number of civil law violations a person can receive, plus their record will be expunged every January 1st and July 1st.

What these lawmakers have done is removed a deterrent to drug use and addiction. They are moving full steam ahead toward full legalization. “Medical” marijuana and incremental decriminalization are the first necessary steps.

“The key to it is medical access, because once you have hundreds of thousands of people using marijuana under medical supervision the whole scam is going to be bought. Once there’s medical access…then we will get full legalization.” Richard Cowan, former director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana.

Take ACTION:  Click HERE to send an email or fax to Governor Rauner.  Please urge him to veto SB 2228. Also, please call his Springfield office at (217) 782-0244. A tally report is given to the governor at the end of each day. There is a huge liability issue at stake that the governor should be concerned about. Who will assume responsibility for the increase in road fatalities, psychotic incidents, youth addictions, not to mention employer liability?

Too many lawmakers have been erroneously led to believe that our prisons and judicial system are overrun with “petty” marijuana offenses.  This is NOT the truth.  Please read a former Will County and Cook County Assistant State Attorney as he exposes this myth in an article he wrote exclusively for Illinois Family Institute: Cannabis Myths Exposed

This legislation was co-sponsored by State Representatives Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago), Carol Ammons (D-Champaign), Sonya Harper (D-Chicago), Michael Zalewski (D-Riverside), Ed Sullivan (R-Mundelein), Christian Mitchell (D-Chicago), Jehan Gordon-Booth (D-Peoria), and Will Guzzardi (D-Chicago).

In the Illinois Senate, this legislation was co-sponsored by State Senators Michael Noland (D-Elgin) , Jacqueline Collins (D-Chicago), Jason Barickman (R-Pontiac), Toi Hutchinson (D-Chicago Heights), Don Harmon (D-Chicago), Pam Althoff (R-Crystal Lake), Karen McConnaughay (R-West Dundee), Linda Holmes (D-Aurora), Napoleon Harris (D-Harvey), Emil Jones III (D-Chicago), Patricia Van Pelt (D-Chicago), Donne Trotter (D-Chicago), and Iris Martinez (D-Chicago).

Background

Contrary to one of the reasons lawmakers give for decriminalization, prisons are NOT overcrowded with marijuana users. Click Here and Here  and Here.

Marijuana is NOT Harmless. Cannabis Use is classified as a Disorder in the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders).

The American Academy of Pediatrics opposes medical marijuana outside the regulatory process of the FDA and opposes legalization because of the potential harms to children and adolescents.

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry’s policy statement warns of the negative effects on children.

The American Academy of Neurology warns that medical marijuana legislation is not supported by medical research.

The American Society of Addiction Medicine recognizes “there are several potential medical and public health consequences of marijuana use that require further research.”

Fatal car crashes involving marijuana double after states legalize the drug. States that have relaxed their laws are seeing a 24.4% increase in car fatalities.

Psychotic incidents increase with marijuana use. Click Here and Here and Here and Here and Here.

Children will be affected. As perceived risk decreases, use increases. Colorado has seen a jump in school drug cases.  Click Here and Here. Furthermore, a diminished IQ and cognitive performance and even brain abnormalities have been detected with “casual” use.

Drug use will become a big problem for employers.

With the state our state is in, why would lawmakers make it worse?

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State Representative Greg Harris (D-Chicago) and his leftist accomplices, endlessly involved in trying to subvert truth and reality, have introduced the Birth Certificate Sex Designation bill (HB 6073) to make it easier for men and women who wish they were the opposite sex to obtain falsified birth certificates. Harris’ first chief co-sponsor was Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago), both of whom are at the forefront of every legislative effort that serves the homosexual community of which they are part.

The absurdity and unscientific nature of the content of HB 6073 reveals the absurdity of the law it seeks to amend. This bill proposes to change a reference in the law from “sex change” to “change of sex designation.”

First, this change implicitly acknowledges the true fact that no one’s sex can change. Second, it demonstrates that birth certificates are being rendered meaningless. Birth certificates were intended as legal documents identifying objective birth facts. Gender-dysphoric men who were male at birth remain male. Gender-dysphoric women who were female at birth remain in perpetuity female. Gender-dysphoric men who were “designated” male at birth remain designated at birth male. Gender-dysphoric women who were “designated” female at birth remain designated at birth female. No amount or degree of legal or rhetorical chicanery can change what they were designated at birth. When liberals in Springfield figure out how to manipulate time, maybe this bill will make sense. Now it’s merely an exercise in nonsensical legislative legerdemain.

This bill changes the requirements for acquiring a new (and falsified) birth certificate. Currently, gender-dysphoric persons must present an “affidavit” from a “physician” confirming that the gender-dysphoric person has had “an operation” to try to conceal their actual sex. The proposed changes would nix the whole “affidavit” requirement, changing it to a bar far easier to climb over. If this bill passes, all that gender-dysphoric persons will need is a “declaration” from any “licensed medical or mental health professional who has treated or evaluated a person stating that the person has undergone treatment that is clinically appropriate for that individual for the purpose of gender transition, based on contemporary medical standards.”

And what kinds of treatments, inquiring minds might be asking, are included in the “clinically appropriate” toolbox for gender-dysphoric individuals? Will a gender-dysphoric person be required to have had surgery to tamper with their private parts? Nope. Will he (I am using the moribund universal “he”) be required to have received or currently be receiving cross-sex hormone treatments? Nope. Will he be required to be receiving psychological counseling for his gender-dysphoria? Nope. All that will be legally required in order to receive a de facto falsified birth certificate is a “declaration” from a licensed mental health professional who states that this person has received some treatment deemed appropriate by contemporary standards established by the dominant mental health organizations that are drenched in “progressive” socio-political dogma. That’s a bar so low and bendy that even a toddler could scramble over it.

Of course, not even surgical mutilation, hormone-blockers, cross-sex hormones, and cross-dressing can change a person’s sex at birth or in adulthood. And none of these anti-treatments (Treatments imply a disorder, and one’s sex is not a disorder) can change what these persons were designated at birth.

This is what our elected representatives waste their time and our taxes on: making it ever easier for gender-dysphoric persons to pretend they are the opposite sex.

Take ACTION:  Click HERE to contact your state representative to ask him/her to uphold births as accurate legal documents.

Ask them to vote NO to HB 6073.

Concerned about Common Core Standards?

Join us on April 8th in Orland Park for yet another IFI Forum, this time exploring The Case Against Common Core with Dr. Duke Pesta.  Click HERE for more information.

Click HERE for a flyer of the event.

The politically expedient title of the anti-autonomy, anti-choice bill (HB 217) sitting on Governor Bruce Rauner’s desk points to its nebulous, overbroad, and deceitful content. It’s titled the “Youth Mental Health Protection Act.” I mean, who isn’t for “youth mental health.”

Among Illinois’ sexuality dogmatists, like lesbian activist Representative Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago), who never miss an opportunity to exploit minors for their selfish political ends, the bill is informally called the “conversion therapy prohibition act.” It’s a deceitful colloquial title intended to connote religiosity and compulsory therapies and to conceal that some therapeutic protocols are neither religious nor coercive.

Not only is the bill overbroad and nebulous but also the bill’s sponsors failed to provide any conclusive evidence-based research to defend its overbroad goals.

This onerous bill embodies numerous intellectual failures and reveals the ethical failures of its sponsors:

• This bill ignores the fact that the liberal American Psychological Association admits that “Although much research has examined the possible genetic, hormonal, developmental, social, and cultural influences on sexual orientation, no findings have emerged that permit scientists to conclude that sexual orientation is determined by any particular factor or factors. Many think that nature and nurture both play complex roles….” If social and cultural influences can affect “sexual orientation,” isn’t it possible that childhood molestation may influence it? Even homosexual counselors acknowledge that childhood molestation can result in “sexual orientation” confusion. Would this bill permit therapists to discuss with their minor clients the possible connection between molestation and same-sex attraction?

• While gender dysphoric minors are permitted to access medical help in rejecting their unwanted, unchosen physical embodiment, this bill would legally prohibit other minors from accessing medical help in rejecting their unwanted same-sex attraction. Such a prohibition constitutes not only indefensible inconsistency but also egregious governmental interference with minors’ autonomy. Surely if gender dysphoric minors are permitted to get medical help in aligning their bodies with their desires, other minors should be permitted to get medical help in aligning their sexual orientation with their desires.

• The bill makes no distinction between coercive aversion therapies and talk therapies.

• This bill makes no distinction between involuntary counseling and voluntary counseling desired by minors.

• There is a difference between eradication of desires and not affirming desires. This bill makes no allowance for minors who may want help in constructing an identity that does not include the affirmation of their unwanted, unchosen same-sex attraction.

• This bill fails to acknowledge that numerous homosexual scholars assert that sexual orientation is fluid and, therefore, can and does change.

• The bill relies on the American Psychological Association’s (APA) 2009 “Task Force Report on Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation,” which has been challenged for a number of reasons, including the fact that the task force was composed of only six people, all of whom were homosexuality-affirming activists and/or homosexual themselves.

• Many Illinoisans do not realize that the Illinois Human Rights Act defines “sexual orientation” as inclusive of “gender identity” and “gender expression.” Therefore, because of this unusual legal definition, if passed this bill would prohibit counseling to help gender-confused minors accept their objective biological sex. This bill makes no reference to the two liberal sexuality/gender scientists, Dr. Eric Vilain and Michael Bailey, who argue that lawmakers should not ban counseling efforts that help gender dysphoric minors accept their physical embodiment.

For these reasons, IFI is urging Governor Rauner to veto the bill.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send an email or a fax to Governor Rauner’s office, asking him to allow licensed and professional therapists to do their job. Urge him to veto HB 217.

You can also call the governor’s office in Springfield at (217) 782-0244 or in Chicago at (312) 814-2121.

Illinois Family Institute
Faith, Family and Freedom Banquet

Friday, September 18 , 2015
The Stonegate Banquet & Conference Center (Map)
Click HERE for a banquet flyer.

Secure your tickets now – click here or call (708) 781-9328.

Program advertisements & banquet sponsorships available!

Written by David E. Smith and Laurie Higgins

How did they vote?

Yesterday afternoon, the Illinois Senate voted 34-19-1 to pass HB 217, a bill that will censor professional therapists who want to help children who suffer from unchosen, unwanted same-sex attraction. Republican State Senators Christine Radogno (Lemont) and Chris Nybo (Hinsdale) voted with the majority of Democrats to pass this tyrannical legislation. Five state senators did not vote, while State Senator Bill Haine (D-Alton) voted present — which is as good as a “no” vote.

This bill was introduced by LBGTQ activist and State Representative Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago), and sponsored in the Illinois Senate by Senators Daniel Biss (D-Chicago), Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill), Iris Martinez (D-Chicago), Toi Hutchinson (D-Chicago Heights), Don Harmon (D-Oak Park), Michael Noland (D-Elgin), David Koehler (D-Peoria), Dan Kotowski (D-Park Ridge), William Delgado (D-Chicago), Martin Sandoval (D-Chicago), Heather Steans (D-Chicago), and Emil Jones III (D-Chicago).

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

The bill now moves to Governor Bruce Rauner. While he campaigned as a “no social issues” candidate in 2014, he now has to face the reality that the Illinois General Assembly is filled with politicians who want to advance radical legislation dealing with social issues–many of whom want to champion a far left social agenda agenda. Gov. Rauner will now be compelled to reveal his position on this highly divisive and controversial “social” issue.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send an email or a fax to Governor Bruce Rauner’s office, asking him to allow licensed and professional therapists to do their job.  Urge him to veto HB 217.

Background

It is stunning to realize that legislation suppressing the speech of professional therapists would get this much support. Thankfully, the bill received robust deliberation and criticism on the floor during debate yesterday. State Senators Kyle McCarter (R-Vandalia), Dale Righter (R-Mattoon), Jim Oberweis (R-Aurora), Tim Bivins (R-Dixon) and freshman Neil Anderson (R-Moline) did a great job questioning the sponsor of the bill and/or speaking against HB 217.

IFI is grateful for the moral fortitude displayed by the members of the Illinois Senate who vocally opposed this unwarranted, unethical, and poorly written legislation.

It is important to note, HB 217 makes no distinction between coercive aversion therapy and “talk therapies” that would allow minors a measure of autonomy in constructing an identity that does not affirm unchosen, unwanted same-sex attraction.

The bill’s sponsors never addressed whether minors whose same-sex attraction or “sexual orientation” confusion may be the result of sexual molestation will be able to receive counseling to address the potential connection between molestation and same-sex attraction.

The bill’s supporters never explained why gender-confused minors should be able to access medical help in rejecting their unchosen, unwanted physical embodiment but those who experience same-sex attraction should be prohibited from accessing medical help in rejecting their unchosen, unwanted same-sex attraction.

Those who voted in favor of this bill ignored the urgent warnings of scientists who argued in an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune and LA Times that there is insufficient evidence to justify the passage of bans on reparative therapy for gender dysphoric minors. (Read more HERE.)

The bill’s supporters never addressed the galling way the bill was passed in the house, when the acting speaker allowed less than 5 seconds of time for floor debate before he called for a vote.

This bill is not a reasoned attempt to protect children. It’s a political maneuver that serves the strategic interests and profoundly selfish desires of adults committed to perverse activity and delusional thoughts. Once again, corrosive Illinois political chicanery in the service of some privileged coterie comes before wisdom, truth, knowledge, and even the needs and rights of hurting children.

While “progressive” Americans view the desire of those who suffer from Body Integrity Identity Disorder to amputate healthy limbs as barbaric, they ignorantly view the desire of those who suffer from Gender Identity Disorder to amputate healthy breasts and penises as sound medical practice. What a stupid, barbarous culture we’re becoming. Maybe when the lawsuits against doctors who facilitate barbarism, mutilating bodies and rendering young men and women sterile, start arriving on our crumbling cultural doorstep, this madness will stop. Too bad so many young people will have to suffer before that happens.

Please pray that Gov. Rauner does the right thing, and rejects this terrible policy.

In a stunning, counter-cultural op-ed appearing in the LA Times and Chicago Tribune, Dr. Eric Vilain, professor of pediatrics and human genetics at UCLA and director of the Center for Gender-Based Biology, and J. Michael Bailey, psychology professor at Northwestern University, warn lawmakers against banning “conversion” therapy for minors who experience gender dysphoria. They argue that attempts by lawmakers to ban “all therapists from helping families trying to alleviate children’s gender dysphoria would be premature, a triumph of ideology over science.”

Further, they take particular aim at President Barack Obama’s public support for “conversion” therapy bans, urging him to “set a better example by pausing at the limits of our knowledge and encouraging scientists to collect the data we need.” They warned that until such knowledge is available, “let’s be careful about telling the well-meaning parents of gender-dysphoric children what to do.”

If Illinois lawmakers—never known for humility about their own knowledge—truly care about children, they will heed the words of these scientists. Illinois state senators should vote “no” on the “conversion” therapy ban (HB 217).

Here is an extended excerpt from Vilain and Bailey’s compelling op-ed (emphasis added):

Since the age of 2, he has been a very different kind of boy. He enjoys wearing his mother’s shoes and his sister’s dresses. He likes to play with girls and hates playing with boys, who are too rough.

Now 5, he has told you that he wants to be a girl. In fact, he insists that he is a girl. Your son isn’t just feminine; he is unhappy being a boy. He has gender dysphoria.

You love him and you want him to be happy. But you’re worried. Some older kids have started to tease him, and some parents have expressed disapproval.

It seems you have two choices. You could insist that he is a boy and try to put an end to behaviors such as cross-dressing and saying that he is a girl. The alternative is to let him be a girl: grow long hair, choose a new name, dress as he (or “she”) pleases, and when it is time, obtain the necessary hormones and surgeries for a female body.

As scientists who study gender and sexuality.…[w]e do know a lot about such boys. This includes some important facts rarely mentioned in the discussion about how they should be raised. We suspect this is because those facts are inconvenient to the narratives that have come to predominate.

Perhaps the most influential account is that gender dysphoric children have the minds and brains of the other sex, adult transgenderism is inevitable, and early transition to the other sex is the only humane option.

But this narrative is clearly wrong in one respect. Gender dysphoric children have not usually become transgender adults. For example, the large majority of gender dysphoric boys studied so far have become young men content to remain male. More than 80% adjusted by adolescence.

Granted, the available research was conducted at a time when parents almost always encouraged their gender dysphoric children to accept their birth sex…

The little data we have indicate that parental acquiescence leads to persistence.

As more and more parents let their gender dysphoric boys live as girls, the percentage of persisters may increase dramatically.

But, again, we don’t yet know whether it’s better to encourage adjustment or persistence.

(We have focused on gender dysphoric boys because their parents have contacted us much more often than parents of similar girls. Moreover, many fewer gender dysphoric girls have been studied scientifically. The same basic facts appear to be true for both sexes, however.)

Let’s take a look at the likely life trajectories of two imagined gender dysphoric boys: David, whose parents insist he stay David, and Max, whose parents allow him to become a girl, changing his name to Maxine.

In the short run, David will experience more psychological pain than Maxine. Adjustment to being a boy necessarily means accepting that he can’t be a girl, something he desperately wants. Still, most gender dysphoric boys have managed the mental transition.

In the long run, Maxine will need serious medical interventions. In late childhood she will need hormones to block puberty; she will then take estrogen for the rest of her life. Eventually, she may want genital surgery. Although this surgery is usually satisfactory, side effects requiring additional surgery are not uncommon.

Each way has obvious advantages and disadvantages. We would prefer to save David the greater pain he will endure during childhood. And we would prefer to save Maxine the serious medical interventions and possible side effects.

…Some professionals who do [conversion therapy to help pre-adolescent children overcome gender dysphoria] have no moral issue with transgenderism but are trying to help children avoid later medical stress. That is a reasonable goal….

The Illinois House of Representatives passed Illinois’ “conversion” therapy ban last week in a shameful display of arrogance and cowardice that epitomizes why Americans hold their elected representatives in disdain.

First, acting as speaker of the house, state representative Lou Lang (D-Skokie)—you know, the 27-year veteran lawmaker whose pockets are lined with filthy lucre from the gaming and marijuana industries—abruptly closed floor debate and called HB 217 for a vote just seconds after the bill’s sponsor, lesbian Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago), offered her appeal for the bill’s passage.

Second, the only Republican who even attempted to make a comment was Tom Morrison (R-Palatine) who was arrogantly ignored by Lou Lang despite several appeals.

Do Illinois “progressives” not feel even a twinge in their shrinking vestigial consciences that this dubious bill was passed in the House through such ethically icky tactics?

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send an email or a fax to your state senator. Urge him/her to vote against HB 217.  (If you have already sent an email to your state representative, please now send an email to your state senator.)

HB 217 was heard in the Senate Executive Committee last night.  As expected, the bill passed by a vote of  11-4, with Senator Mattie Hunter (D-Chicago) voting present.  Senators Christine Radogno (R-Lemont) and Chris Nybo (R-Hinsdale) voted in favor of this terrible bill.  It now moves to the Senate floor where a vote may come as early as Friday.  Please speak out TODAY!

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