As a result of three videos from the Center for Medical Progress that have exposed the dark, sickening underbelly of Planned Parenthood, 31 Republicans and 1 Democrat have filed a resolution (HR 671) urging “the Illinois Department of Public Health, the Illinois Executive Inspector General, the Illinois Attorney General, and the Illinois Depart of Revenue to investigate Planned Parenthood’s procedures for abortions, obtaining informed consent, and sale of donation of human fetal tissues across the state.”

Moreover, the resolution urges these same government bodies to “investigate which organizations across the state are involved in purchasing or accepting human tissue from Planned Parenthood.”

The chief sponsor of the bill is one of Illinois’ finest and most courageous lawmakers, Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton), who explained to IFI her reasons for pursuing this resolution:

Recent videos reveal the callous way Planned Parenthood treats human life and the women about whom it purports to care. I ask my colleagues in the General Assembly  who are concerned about the rule of law, women’s health, or human decency, to support state investigations into Planned Parenthood in Illinois. Planned Parenthood facilities in Illinois are intentionally unlicensed through a legal loophole, have not been inspected in 15 years, and have put women at risk. In one of the videos from the Center for Medical Progress, Cook County’s Stroger Hospital was suggested as a place to obtain baby parts. Taxpayers need verifiable assurances through the investigative authorities of the state to ensure no federal or state laws are being subverted and especially to ensure that women are not at being put at risk from abortionists who use more invasive surgical procedures in order to increase profits. 

So far, Representative Ives has been joined by the following co-sponsors:

Patricia R. Bellock (R-Westmont), Barbara Wheeler (R-Crystal Lake), Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield), Thomas Morrison (R-Palatine), Margo McDermed (R-Mokena), Terri Bryant (R-Mount Vernon), Keith Wheeler (R-North Aurora), Robert Pritchard (R-Sycamore), David Reis (R-Olney), John Cavaletto (R-Salem), Brian Stewart (R-Freeport), Tom Demmer (R-Rochelle), Reginald Phillips (R-Charleston), Randy Frese (R-Quincy), Donald Moffitt (R-Galesburg), Ron Sandack (R-Downers Grove), Dwight Kay (R-Glen Carbon), Charles Meier (R-Highland), Joe Sosnowski (R-Rockford), David Harris (R-Arlington Heights), David McSweeney (R-Cary), Steven Andersson (R-Geneva), Tim Butler (R-Springfield), Dan Brady (R-Normal), Norine Hammond (R-Macomb), John Cabello (R-Loves Park), Ed Sullivan (R-Mundelein), Adam Brown (R-Champaign), C.D. Davidsmeyer (R-Jacksonville), Jerry Costello II (D-Red Bud)*, Grant Wehrli (R-Naperville) and Sheri Jesiel (R-Gurnee).

Please take a moment to thank these men and women for their effort to ascertain the truth about the activities of Planned Parenthood, an organization that has long demonstrated its abhorrent lack of ethics through its eager willingness to crush and dismember babies in the womb.

And if you do not see your representative on this list, you know what to do.

Take ACTION:  Click HERE to urge your state representative to sponsor and pass this resolution.

**An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified State Representative Jerry Costello as a Republican. IFI regrets the error.**

Join us at our annual banquet and our two special guests: Prof. Anthony Esolen and Pastor Doug Wilson!   They will offer their witness and wisdom, helping us all become better equipped to shape our culture in God-honoring ways.  Your attendance and support is essential to our success!

Illinois Family Institute
Faith, Family and Freedom Banquet

Friday, September 18 , 2015
The Stongate – Hoffman Estates, IL

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

How did they vote?

Yesterday afternoon in an appalling disregard for children’s mental health, parental rights and religious liberty, the Illinois House voted 68 to 43 to pass HB 217, a bill to ban reparative therapy for children who suffer from unwanted same-sex attraction disorder.  This bill was introduced by LBGTQ activist and State Representative Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago). The bill received eight more votes than the sixty needed to pass!

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

This is an unmitigated disaster for children and families! It is a shame that not one conservative lawmaker challenged this proposal during floor debate.  Not one lawmaker defended children and free speech from the tyranny of Leftists who demand we act, speak and think according to the dictates of their beliefs. Not one lawmaker reminded their colleagues that by diminishing the right to live out our faith, they are establishing the religion of secularism which the First Amendment decisively prohibits.

While a number of representatives were excused from session that afternoon, it is disappointing to report that seven Republicans sided with this pro-homosexual, anti-parental rights, anti-religious liberty legislation, including:  State Representatives Dan Brady (Normal), Tim Butler (Springfield), Michael McAuliffe (Chicago), Bob Pritchard (Sycamore), Deputy “Leader” David Leitch (Peoria), and Assistant Republican “Leader” Ed Sullivan (Mundelein), who also voted to pass same-sex “marriage” in November 2013. Even Republican Minority “Leader” Jim Durkin (Burr Ridge) voted to further the devastation of families who have members struggling with the issue of unwanted same-sex attraction.

However, a number of Democrats did not support this radical agenda, including State Representatives Kate Cloonen (Kankakee), Jerry Costello (Red Bud), Anthony DeLuca (Chicago Heights), Brandon Phelps (Harrisburg), Larry Walsh Jr. (Joliet) and even Assistant Majority Leader John Bradley (Marion).

IFI is grateful for the moral clarity displayed by these and other members of the Illinois House of Representatives who opposed HB 217.

The bill now moves to the Illinois Senate, the more liberal chamber. Unless an outpouring of prayers, along with many visits and calls are made to senators’ local district offices, this bill will likely become law.

We are seeing an unprecedented attack on Illinois families, parental rights and religious liberty by the people who are repeatedly elected back into their positions of authority. Are you registered to vote? Do you vote?

If people of faith do not step out of their comfort zone and speak loudly and publicly; at the very least with their vote, we are assuredly leaving a legacy of tyranny and evil for our children and grandchildren.

Will you please spread the word to everyone that you know in Illinois to pray, visit, and make calls to their state senator? You can look up their address and phone number HERE.  Also,send them an email. Simply click on the link below to send your email. Note: you must be registered with your name and address to send an email to your specific senator.

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.)

Click HERE TO SUPPORT Illinois Family Institute.