By Nancy Thorner -
The 2018 legislative session in Springfield will be a very difficult year for pro-life issues, state lawmakers predicted last weekend. With abortion advocates dominating the Democrat majority in the Illinois House and Senate and a Republican Governor that supports "choice," as he says, the state could move in an even more radical Left direction in the upcoming year.
A Pro-Life Legislative Update was held on Saturday, February 17th, 2018, sponsored by Lake County Right to Life at Christ Church Crossroads, 1350 IL-137, Grayslake, IL. The Featured Speakers were GOP state Senator Dan McConchie, GOP state Representative Allen Skillicorn, GOP state Representative Sheri Jesiel and Elise Bouc, state chairman of STOP ERA in Illinois.
President Bonnie Quirke of Lake County Right to Life welcomed participants and introduced the featured speakers. The event was free to the public. A complimentary breakfast was served.
The lawmakers' presentations were tailored to provide essential information to equip those attending the event, and others through their sharing, of the action which is called for to save unborn babies as well as other vulnerable lives.
McConchie: Life is winning issue in his district
Initially noted by Senator McConchie is that he has been in his position for about two years representing the 26th District of Illinois. Each district is composed of 220,000 individuals. McConchie ran in the last cycle on the pro-life issue and won. As McConchie related, the same district went for Hillary Clinton by 3,000 votes, yet he won even thought his Democrat challenger, Kelly Mazeski, outspent him 3-1. Senator McConchie believes the pro-life issue is a winning one here in Illinois.
Bills addressed by Senator Dan McConchie:
- Senate Bill 1564: It was on August 2, 2016, that Governor Rauner signed a bill into law forcing medical professionals and pregnancy centers to promote abortion, regardless of their religious or moral convictions. As such, SB 1564 amends the state’s Health Care Right of Conscience Act to compel pro-life doctors and clinics to refer patients to health care providers who will perform abortions. On the final vote in the General Assembly, every single Republican member voted against the bill.
- House Bill 40: On Thursday, September 28, 2017, Governor Bruce Rauner signed a bill expanding public financing for abortions in Illinois. The bill, HB40, permits abortion coverage by state employee health insurance and Medicaid funds. The proposal also safeguards abortion access by striking statutory language expressing the state's intent to criminalize the procedure if the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized it is ever overturned.
(During a Thursday afternoon news conference on September 28th before signing the bill, Rauner said he was personally "pro-choice" and that he had listened to both sides. But did he? McConchie related how he had sat down with 54th District IL Rep. Tom Morrison and Governor Rauner to discuss HB 40; nevertheless, Governor Rauner went the wrong way, which amounted to "the straw that broke the camel’s back" for Illinois' Republican conservatives. Governor Rauner's bid for re-election was no longer acceptable, as he failed to keep his campaign promise to steer clear of social issues.)
- What's coming: Another attempt to pass ERA legislation in Illinois, which will start in the Senate and end in the House. ERA is of Importance for the life cycle.
Skillicorn: Rauner lied to us about HB 40
Representative Skillicorn has represented the 66th District since 2017. He was critical of how politicians don't work for the people, focusing in on how Governor Rauner informed others that he was not going to vote for HB 40. Skillicorn then expressed pleasure that no Republican representatives had voted for the bill in the House. Skillicorn supports Jeanne Ives in her bid to become the next governor of Illinois, believing that Ives has a real chance to win.
Rep. Skillicorn likewise expressed his displeasure with the negative ads and campaign literature that is being sent to Republicans throughout Illinois, paid for by Citizens for Rauner, Inc. In a recent mailing Rauner claimed that Ives opposed freezing property taxes, even though Rauner has told House members to do so 18 times since 2015. Here is the latest account of the House rejecting the Property Tax Freeze.
Skillicorn spoke of Rauner's Chief of Staff as a revolving door. He feels the messier the race becomes, the better chance Republicans have of winning. As Skillicorn stated: "It's not true that only a rich guy can challenge another rich guy."
This bill has been proposed by Rep. Skillicorn and is being sponsored by Skillicorn with Rep. Barbara Salvi Wheeler: House Bill 0282 (Abortion Limitations Bill):
The bill amends the Illinois Abortion Law of 1975 and provides that a person may not perform an abortion of a fetus solely because of the fetus's race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, or diagnosis or potential diagnosis of the fetus having Down Syndome or any other disability. It has been referred to the Rules Committee.
Of note was Skillicorn's recount of the relationship between the failed soda tax that Preckwinkle wanted passed to help fix the budget and free abortions which have been provided by Cook County for a few years.
After the pop tax was repealed, Preckwinkle told commissioners that is was up to them to fix the budget; nevertheless, money needed to pay for abortions in Cook Country didn't suffer. Preckwinkle had been counting on the anticipated $99M soda tax to pay for various services in Cook County, but when Rauner signed HB40, all Cook County abortions — $18M worth — were no longer the responsibility of Cook County but now the responsibility of the tax payers of Illinois.
Jesiel calls for annual surgical center checks
Rep. Sheri Jesiel spoke of her own House Bill 0467, which calls for an annual check of surgical centers that perform a certain number or type of abortions, a bill she keeps submitting every year. It was last re-referred to the Rules committee on 3/31/2017.
House Bill 0467 calls for an annual check of surgical centers that perform a certain number or type of abortions. In addition to requiring annual inspections, the measure seeks to expand the number of clinics subject to them. Currently, the state regulates two types: “pregnancy termination specialty centers,” which are limited to first-trimester abortions, and ambulatory surgical treatment centers, which do additional procedures. The bill would add a third type, those operated by groups like Planned Parenthood, which are not licensed or inspected by the state, but rather treated like doctor’s offices.
As Rep Jesiel related, an abortion center can be excluded from inspection if less than 50% of their services is providing abortions. Nail salons are inspected every year, yet inspectors can't go into a surgical site. Abortion centers can claim they are providing less than 50% of abortion in the care they provide, by racking up the way services are provided, while counting abortions only once.
Rep. Jesiel also called attention to about House Bill 1785, known as the “Birth Certificate Change Bill”, which modernizes the law by updating the standard to clinically appropriate treatment, thereby aligning Illinois law with a growing list of states and the federal government that allow the gender on birth certificates, passports, and other identification documents to be changed without surgery. Illinois first allowed persons to change the gender marker on a birth certificate in the 1950s. Under this standard, a person can only correct the gender marker if they have undergone a surgical procedure.
House Bill 1785 passed the House by a vote of 63 to 43 on Thursday, February 1, 2017, and was sent to the Senate, where it was signed into law by Governor Rauner on Friday, August 15, 20172017. Advocates had urged the Senate to support the bill to help transgender Illinoisans. Illinois now joins fourteen other states and the District of Columbia in allowing people who are transgender and intersex to change the gender marker on their birth certificate.
Representative Jesiel stressed how important it was to keep fighting the fight for the dignity of human life. She further mused how we have become a culture of death which started with Roe v. Wade. There is a cultural breakdown, especially in large inner cities, where attitudes need to change
Additional comments by Senator Dan McConchie
- There is legislation pending to repeal HB 40.
- Democrat Daniel Bliss is now within 4 points of J. B. Pritzker. Should Bliss win the primary, he would have the vehicle out there to assert his priorities.
- Pritker and Bliss are far left extremists. Bliss is very far left.
- Democrats never pushed the Transgender bill until there was a Republican governor in office. Rauner fell for it. By so doing Rauner divided the Republican Party.
Senator McConchie on how a bill is introduced in the House and Senate, which explains why so many bills from Republicans, also Democrat bills, never reach the floor to be voted on.
- Anyone can introduce a bill.
- In the House a bill first goes to the Rules Committee and from there is sent to the Assignment Committee. Often a bill will stay stuck in the Rules Committee.
- In the Senate a bill is sent to a sub-committee, which seldom meet.
- Madigan won't allow controversial bills to be debated; the majority Democrat Party runs all committees; Illinois is the most authoritarian of all the states; which allow Madigan and Cullington to run the state.
A separate article will follow on what featured speaker Elise Bouc, State Chairman of Stop EPA in Illinois, had to relate about EPA once again rearing its ugly head here in Illinois.
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal rights for all citizens regardless of sex; it seeks to end the legal distinctions between men and women in terms of divorce, property, employment, and other matters.
Photos by Nancy Thorner
