The Illinois Legislature is considering five bills that, if passed, could reduce state monitoring of abortions and abortion pills, require foster parents to support abortions, and establish a public fund to pay for abortions.
The first bill, HB 4834, excludes abortion pills and hormonal prescriptions, such as testosterone and estrogen, from the state’s Prescription Monitoring Program, LiveAction News reported. The program tracks data on the dispensation of controlled substances, allowing doctors and pharmacists to watch for potential prescription abuse and monitor the consumption of high-risk drugs.
According to the outlet, Illinois Right to Life (IRL) has raised concerns that even though prescriptions would technically still be required to obtain abortion drugs, the bill would make it difficult to track medical complications of women who take the pills, which can include hemorrhaging, sepsis, or infections.
“Removing this drug from monitoring systems reduces transparency and weakens safeguards for women at a time when chemical abortions now account for a growing share of procedures nationwide,” IRL stated.
Another bill, HB 4839, aims to eliminate the requirement for fetal death certificates to be issued for babies who die or are aborted before 20 weeks. LiveAction News reported that IRL says the bill denies the life and human existence of unborn children.
Under HB 4966, pro-abortion ideologies would be forced upon foster families giving homes to children from out-of-state. These families would be required to “maintain an environment” that is “supportive” of their foster child’s “reproductive health decisions,” according to LiveAction News. The legislation states that out-of-state foster children must be guaranteed “care that would be lawful and medically appropriate under Illinois law.”
HB 5295 would allow health care providers to exclude abortion-related information from women’s medical histories to keep the records private from out-of-state entities — a category that potentially includes physicians and minors’ parents.
The final bill, HB 5408, would establish an “Abortion Access Fund Grant Program” using taxpayer dollars, which would pay for women to have abortions if their insurance does not cover them. Democratic Rep. Anna Moeller, the bill’s sponsor, reportedly said that the legislation would create another way for the state to provide abortions to women if their situations don’t meet federal guidelines, according to Capitol News Illinois. She also said that it supplies additional funds for providers to keep performing abortions.
LiveAction News reported, “Translation: the money could potentially pay for aborting the children of individuals living in the U.S. illegally who don't qualify for Medicaid, and it will be a massive payout to abortionists.”
According to the outlet, Illinois is already one of the most pro-abortion states in the U.S. due to its comprehensive Reproductive Health Act and its lawmakers’ support of abortion.