IL abortion bill takes a step backward in protecting women. Illinois is poised to top New York in becoming the abortion capital of the United States. In the wake of the possibility that the Supreme Court may one day overturn Roe v. Wade, Illinois and other state legislatures are moving toward passing laws to secure the future of legal third trimester abortions in their individual states.

These states are also taking steps to make abortions less safe for women, making the general public question whether these new laws being proposed are really in the interest of women’s health and women’s choice, or whether they are to protect the abortion industry from medical malpractice lawsuits and regulations.

This IL abortion bill, called the Reproductive Health Act, makes 8 significant changes to Illinois law and is fast-tracked to pass with adequate votes in April. Four of those changes are truly alarming for pro-choice advocates who respect a woman’s right to choose and demand a woman receives adequate health care when she seeks an abortion. The Reproductive Health Act, advancing in both houses of the Illinois General Assembly as House Bill 2495 and Senate Bill 1942, will drastically lower or even eliminate healthcare standards for women seeking abortions in Illinois. Citizens of Illinois, both pro-life and pro-choice, are wondering exactly who this new legislation is designed to aid. It’s clearly not the woman seeking to exercise her right to choose in a safe and legal manner. Instead, this bill is written for the abortion providers to protect them from regulation oversight and legal liability that may stem from less safe, more abundant opportunities to provide abortion on demand from conception through the onset of labor.

“Illinois bill doesn’t just go up to the moment of birth, so during the birth process you can do an abortion, says former Republican Illinois lawmaker Peter Breen," an attorney with the Thomas More Society. “It also strips away any conscience protection that is in the law for doctors, nurses, and health care professionals,” he added.

The recent movie Gosnell, depicting infamous imprisoned serial killer abortionist Dr. Kermit Gosnell, should warn Illinois legislators what could happen to women seeking to exercise their right to choose if they remove safety regulation requirements from abortion facilities. Gosnell was a Philadelphia abortionist who spent 30 years in the industry with very little government oversight and regulation. In his clinic he allowed unlicensed staff to administer sedatives for patients which directly resulted in the death of one woman who came to his clinic for an abortion. Gosnell also operated without properly functioning medical equipment which was required by state law at the time. In May 2013, Gosnell was convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of three infants and involuntary manslaughter in the death of post-abortive patient Karnamaya Mongar, a 41-year-old refugee from Nepal. Gosnell was also convicted of 21 felony counts of illegal late-term abortion, and 211 counts of violating the 24-hour informed consent law.

Illinois will become a 3rd Trimester Abortion Destination

Since 2010 the number of out of state women who have sought abortions in Illinois has doubled according to the Illinois Department of Public Health 2017 statistics. Under current Illinois law abortion is not legal once the unborn child is viable, (i.e., when “there is a reasonable likelihood of sustained survival of the fetus outside the womb, with or without artificial support”) unless, “in the medical judgement of the attending or referring physician, based on the particular facts of the case before him, it is necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother. Any abortion performed on an unborn child considered viable that is not necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother is considered a class 2 felony under current Illinois law. The Reproductive Health Act repeals this law and allows for abortion through the nine months of pregnancy for any reason whatsoever, and it even repeals the requirements that infants born alive be given medical care and not simply abandoned to die. Those seeking unrestricted 3rd trimester abortions, which are less safe than a cesarean section according to former abortionist Dr. Anthony Levatino, would benefit, as would those who seek to end the life of an aborted infant born alive but viable under this IL abortion bill.

“We will become a 3^rd trimester abortion destination because we’ve seen that in those few states that allow this," Breen warns.

Reproductive Health Act will make Illinois an Underage Abortion Destination

Under current Illinois law parents or guardians of minors must be notified when their child intends to have an abortion, and minors seeking an abortion without parental notification must petition the court to do so. The Reproductive Health Act will repeal this law which has been in place in Illinois since 1995 but only enforced since 2013 due to court challenges. According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, the existing Parental Notice of Abortion Act has been shown to reduce abortions performed on minors by nearly 55% over a 5-year reporting period ending in 2017.  

“The abortion bills pending in the Illinois General Assembly would eliminate all restrictions on abortions up until the moment of birth. So, it would turn Illinois into a third-trimester abortion destination that could also wipe away our parental involvement requirements,’’ said Breen.

Those seeking to undermine the rights of parents to care for their minor children who find themselves pregnant and those seeking to increase the number of minor abortions in the state of Illinois would benefit from this new IL abortion bill should it become law. Does the average parent want their child to elect to have an abortion without their knowledge? The average parent of a teenage knows full well that many are not be able to handle post abortive health care needs independent of parental support. Who benefits from the secrecy? Is it the teen with complications or the abortion provider?

Illinois will Remove Nearly all Public Safety Requirements on Abortion and Abortion Clinics

The Reproductive Health Act states that the state may regulate abortion clinics “only to the extent that such regulation is narrowly tailored to protect a compelling state interest…” Section 1-5(2) (p. 2, lines 3-6). The “compelling interest test” is the highest hurdle a regulation has to clear under the law. If that test is applied, it is extremely unlikely that any court would uphold any regulation of abortion by Department of Public Health - even those regulations adopted exclusively for the safety of the mother.  The state also plans to remove regulations that require abortions to be performed only in a hospital or clinic.

"One thing to note in the Illinois context is that inspections triggered by the Prolife Action League are only possible under current law," Breen points out, "and this has resulted in the closure of several abortion clinics that are currently required to be licensed or that at least were licensed under the current law."

IL Abortion Bill will Remove Public Health Protection by Allowing Abortions to be Performed by Nurses, Nurse Practitioners

If passed, the Reproductive Health Act would allow non-physicians to perform abortions, a practice that is currently illegal in 42 U.S. states. Under current Illinois law only licensed physicians may perform abortions. The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the states are free to prohibit non physicians from performing abortions. It is also the norm across America. Only states like California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon, Vermont and West Virginia have laws in place that allow unlicensed medical personnel to perform abortions, whether non-surgical or surgical, on women.  The justification for taking such a drastic step is a claimed shortage of doctors. But Illinois is already an abortion haven and a destination state for women seeking abortions who live in neighboring states that have more restrictive abortion laws in place. Removing regulations for a licensed physician will ultimately put women at a higher risk of complications. In a 2013 study on the California practice of using NPs, CNMs, and PAs to perform aspiration abortions entitled: “Safety of Aspiration Abortion Performed by Nurse Practitioners, Certified Midwives, and Physician Assistants Under a California Legal Waiver” researchers Tracy A. Weitz, PhD et al determined that in a study of over 11,000 abortions analyzed, with about half done by physicians and half by non-physicians, the likelihood of complications doubled when an NP, CNM, or PA performed the abortion rather than a licensed physician. Under this proposed law more Illinois women would be at risk for complications with unlicensed non-physicians performing abortions in this state.

Many Illinois Residents Concerned about RHA

A massive number of Illinois residents signed witness slips in opposition to both the Illinois abortion bill HB 2495 and HB 2467 currently under consideration. At the time of the hearing on March 6 there were over 11,000 witness slips filed against these bills. At a time when the national trend now shows Americans are becoming more pro-life and less pro-choice, laws like the proposed Illinois abortion bill under the name Reproductive Health Act really call to question the underlying motivation of legislators. Are our lawmakers seeking to uphold a woman’s health care rights in a safe and effective manner or are they catering to the abortion industry lobbyist who seeks to advance a money driven agenda at the cost of a woman’s health and safety?

Sources

“An Overview of Abortion Laws.” Guttmacher Institute, 4 Mar. 2019, www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/overview-abortion-laws

Prior, Karen Swallow. “The Movie 'Gosnell' Has a Double Truth: We Ignore Poor Women and Abortion.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 16 Oct. 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2018/10/16/movie-gosnell-has-double-truth-we-ignore-poor-women-abortion/

Weitz, Tracy A et al.“Safety of aspiration abortion performed by nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, and physician assistants under a California legal waiver”American journal of public health vol. 103,3 (2013): 454-61.www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3673521/