The Illinois Reproductive Health Act was fast-tracked in the legislature and passed by the Senate late at night in the cover of darkness. Just a couple weeks ago, pro-life advocates and pro-choice citizens both voiced their opinions on this issue which accumulated over 5,000 witness slips of opposition in the space of an hour, the only allotted time given for citizens to object. On Tuesday evening, May 28, politicians in the House fast tracked the bill. They did this even though it had tremendous opposition by pro-life voters earlier this spring. The house voted 64 yes to 50 no. The Senate brought this unpopular bill to vote, on the last day of the legislative session of the 101st General Assembly. The senate passed the measure with 34 yes to 20 no votes. And after only 17 days this radical bill quietly became the law of the land in the Land of Lincoln.

What does the RHA mean for Illinois residents?

The governor signed the IL RHA on June 12, 2019. The RHA radically changes abortion restriction laws in Illinois and allows the abortion industry to have a legal expansion of abortion provisions across the state. In short, the state’s new health standard for abortions is simple: this law legalizes every kind of post viability abortion. “On the house floor the ACLU representative couldn’t even identify a single abortion that would not be allowed,” the Hon. Peter Breen, Vice President and Senior Counsel of the Thomas More Society said.

As Fox News reporter, Caleb Parke points out in a recent news article:

"Pro-life groups have pointed out Illinois' law goes further than the one in New York, which prompted a series of states to pass anti-abortion bills, several "heartbeat" abortion bans, and ignited a battle across the nation should Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that made abortion legal in all 50 states, be overturned by the Supreme Court with two Trump appointees now on the bench."

Death of Viable Unborn Preemies now Legal in Illinois

This new legislation is poised to allow unfettered elective abortion practices of unborn babies that are viable in the late second and third trimesters.

At a time when our medical doctors and hospitals are able to save micro-preemie babies like Saybie as young as 23 weeks gestation and weighing as much as an apple, Illinois law will condemn same age born alive fetuses to death by taking away their fundamental right for care should they be born alive.

This is a death sentence for electively aborted born alive viable fetuses. But this law also poses a huge threat to the dignity of all viable fetuses that are born too early, just like Saybie, whose mother very much wanted her, but suffered from eclampsia and required an emergency C-section.

According to Breen, “The IL RHA asserts that the viability definition is somehow in accord with standard medical practice. They would be changing the standard away from under current law, where if a child could survive outside the womb using medical practice, then the child is viable.” Breen also mentioned that a 22- or 23-week-old preemie (like Saybie) is considered viable.

Taking a Deeper Look at the Legal Term: "Extraordinary Means"

Breen warned that under this new standard the legal term “extraordinary means” the decision of whether or not to care for a preemie born alive at 22 or 23 weeks gestation could be called into question. We see this culture of death in countries like the Canada and the United Kingdom where parents of preemie babies or babies born with birth defects requiring extraordinary means for their survival, are met with opposition by medical administrations in government hospitals.

“We’ve all heard the stories of preemie babies that we know of who have survived. Under this new standard if extraordinary means would be needed then you would say the child’s not viable,” explained Breen. If a baby requires a few months in the NICU this could be considered an extraordinary means and be denied as the child is not considered viable. It’s essentially a death sentence on a baby that would survive, could survive, if given proper medical treatment by physicians who have the technology to save that child’s life.

According to Breen, the biggest lie proponents of the IL RHA claim is that there is no change to reporting requirements under the RHA:

“The problem is that they are actually repealing the specific provisions of the 1975 abortion law that required specific events to be reported including the cause for why you are doing a post viability abortion. If this provision is gone then there is no way of knowing why a post viability abortion is done and no way to track or to remedy a situation where you’ve done an illegal post viability abortion, assuming any of them are illegal.”

According to the ACLU, “The Illinois Abortion Law of 1975 establishes criminal penalties for performing an abortion and fails to recognize many of the advances in healthcare. The Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act and many of the provisions of the Abortion Law of 1975 have been enjoined by courts and are unenforceable, but they have not been repealed. The bill repeals both laws and replaces with the Illinois Reproductive Health Act. These changes take regulation of abortion out of the criminal code and affirms that abortion care is health care, not criminal activity.”

The Reproductive Health Care Act repeals Illinois' Partial-birth Abortion Ban Act. In stark contrast to the Partial-birth Abortion Ban, which federal courts previously declared unconstitutional, there are only two provisions in the entire Illinois Abortion Law of 1975, as it stood before its repeal, that have been declared unconstitutional by federal courts. Those are the provisions prohibiting fetal experimentation, and those prohibiting sex-selective abortions. If all the Reproductive Health Act intended to do was remove the unconstitutional provisions of the Illinois Abortion Law, it could have done so with surgical precision. The fact that the entire Illinois Abortion Law of 1975 was repealed exposes the true intention of eradicating all impediments to abortion on demand.  

Among the provisions of the Illinois Abortion Law of 1975 that had NOT been found unconstitutional but were nonetheless repealed by SB 25 are provisions that address:

• Medical judgment over the abortion scenario;
• Preservation of life and health of the mother and viability of the fetus;
• Protecting the life and health of the viable fetus;
• Removal of reporting on abortions performed and abortion complications;
• Confidentiality regarding abortions;
• Consequences for violation of the law;
• Prohibition of referral fees for abortions;
• Analysis of fetal tissue; and
• Conscientious objections to abortion.

The Senate passage of the Reproductive Health Act has jeopardized the protections to minors afforded by the Parental Notice Law. Although legislators argued that the law doesn’t affect Parental Notice, this is clearly a lie.

Breen says, “I spent 6 years of my life litigating the Illinois Parental Notice Law, gotten it into effect. It has saved thousands of lives since then. Thousands of young women have decided not to have abortions because they were now involving their parents. The thing is, the RHA would give a 13-year-old girl what they call a “fundamental right” to make an “autonomous” decision about choosing an abortion.”

The New IL RHA has Legal Terminology that can Jeopardize Parental Notice

The new IL RHA uses the terminology “autonomous.” This sets a precedent for arguing against the validity of the Parental Notice Act, which has been proven to save lives since it was enacted in 2012. The Thomas More Society is prepared to fight any efforts to outlaw parent notification in the State of Illinois.

Breen explains, “How do you argue that the decision can be encumbered by a notice to a parent, first? That is a tough argument. We intend to make it. But I know full well that the ACLU put that section in there specifically so that they can strike down our Parental Notice Law. That’s going to be a tough fight in court. But again, children’s lives are at risk, both our unborn children and our 13–14-year-old little girls.”

Senate Passes Reproductive Health Act and Deregulates Abortion Reporting and Licensing

The most egregious change made by the IL RHA is in the regulation of abortion in the State of Illinois. “Legislators have appealed the very specific section of the ambulatory surgical treatment center law that regulates abortions,” Breen explained. “This means no more licensing for abortion clinics at all in Illinois. You will remember in 2011, 2012, 2013 the State of Illinois shut down filthy abortion clinics in Rockford, Peoria, Lincolnwood, Chicago. The only reason they had jurisdiction to shut down these clinics was because there was a license. When you take away the license, filthy abortion clinics can no longer operate. Now filthy abortion clinics will operate unfettered in Illinois,” Breen said.