More bills to follow at statehouse

Springfield | Illinois lawmakers have filed nearly 6,500 bills in the 103rd Illinois General Assembly spring session. As the session continued, bills involving samesex marriage, equitable restrooms, and non-profit board demographics reported in the March Illinois Baptist made their way through committees, although none had reached the floor of the House or Senate for a vote.

Here are four more bills of particular interest to Baptists in the state:

HB 0001, the Compassionate Use and Research of Entheogens Act, would legalize psychedelic mushrooms, LSD, and other hallucinogens including psilocybin and psilocin. Under the bill, home rule powers would be preempted and specified prior criminal records would be expunged. Introduced by Rep. La Shawn K. Ford, the bill has been assigned to the Executive Committee.

HB 1162, the Reproductive Health Act, would prohibit mobile abortion services and other nonpermanent abortion clinics in the state. Rep. Cindy Jacobs filed the bill which has been assigned to the Reproductive Health Subcommittee.

HB 2463, the Deceptive Practices of Limited Services Pregnancy Centers Act, would allow pregnancy resource centers to be fined up to $50,000 by the State Attorney General for not offering clients abortion-related information. It would also give clients and non-clients the right to sue for not providing abortion-related information when requested. The bill was introduced by Rep. Terra Costa Howard and has been assigned to the Health Care Availability and Accessibility Committee. Its companion bill in the Senate, SB 1909, was introduced by Sen. Celina Villanueva and is pending in the Senate Assignments Committee.

SB 218, the Physician Assistant Practice Act of 1987, would be amended to allow physician assistants to prescribe drugs, including those that would induce an abortion, without a doctor’s authorization. Filed by Sen. Ann Gillespie, it has been assigned to the Licensed Activities Committee.

The General Assembly is scheduled to be in spring session through mid-May with a deadline to pass bills by May 31.

Marching for life in Illinois

Annual rally moves to Springfield during legislative session

Springfield | Gray skies made for a somber looking afternoon, but the hundreds who gathered for the Illinois March for Life were enthusiastic. Participants were eager to share their prolife message with lawmakers inside the State Capitol.

The rain held off March 21 as they stood in the shadow of the statue of President Abraham Lincoln listening to Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Springfield Catholic Diocese as he quoted from the 16th U.S. president’s House Divided speech, “A house divided will become one thing or another.”

Like Lincoln, Paprocki said he did not expect the house (referring to the state of Illinois) “to be dissolved, but to become one thing or another.” He urged marchers not to harden their hearts in the fight for life.

The Illinois March for Life, previously known as the Chicago March for Life, was held annually in July. Last year’s march, which took place after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade with the Dobbs ruling, was held as planned, but the decision was made in November to move the 2023 rally to Springfield while the legislature was in session.

Prolife advocates have a growing task. While many states have restricted abortion, Illinois lawmakers have made it more easily accessible. Gov. J.B. Pritzker and many others in state government “have unequivocally expressed their unabashed desire to expand abortion rights and make Illinois an abortion haven,” Paprocki stated.

According to statements from abortion providers, they have been successful. In December, Planned Parenthood of Illinois stated nearly a third of patients at its 17 clinics were coming from 31 other states, including Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin. Choices, another group of abortion clinics now in Illinois, reported it served women from 14 states in October and November of last year.

Noting the many progressive abortion laws the General Assembly has passed since the Dobbs decision, including repealing the parental notice of abortion for minors and tax payer funding of abortions for Medicaid recipients, Paprocki said, “nothing is impossible with God.”

A small, but loud group of counter protestors could be heard from their position just down the block. March for Life organizers reminded attendees not to engage them and that local and Secretary of State police were onsite for their protection.

Church, private school, and college groups were represented by their distinctive banners, hats, and shirts. The High School of Saint Thomas More in Champaign brought its marching band dressed in yellow, and mothers with children in strollers walked in the downtown march.

Michael Mohr, president of the Central Illinois District, Lutheran Church (Mo. Synod), described Planned Parenthood’s new mobile abortion clinics as “uninspected, parked in empty lots by the border.”

“Women of this state and those who travel here from out of state deserve better,” Mohr told the crowd from the steps under Lincoln’s gaze. “We can do better.” He appealed to government leaders to roll back the state’s progressive abortion laws to let Christians show mercy.

Rally speakers encouraged marchers to speak to their legislators about Senate Bill 1909 and House Bill 2463, the Deceptive Practices of Limited Services Pregnancy Centers Act, which would force prolife pregnancy resource centers to make referrals to clients or face fines of up to $50,000. Proponents of the bill claim it’s necessary, alleging pregnancy resource centers spread false information and fail to adequately train their staff.

Mohr told the marchers to remember blind Bartimaeus who, with faith for healing, cried to Jesus for mercy. Mohr urged marchers to do the same. “Lord, have mercy on us!” Mohr called out. The crowd responded, “Lord, have mercy on us!”

– Lisa Misner