'Abortion haven' Illinois considers five more dangerous, anti-life bills

Illinois Right to Life is highlighting several active bills introduced by Illinois lawmakers that it considers "troubling" — including one that would remove the abortion pill from the Illinois Prescription Monitoring System.

Key Takeaways:

• Illinois is considering five anti-life bills, including one that would remove the abortion pill from the prescription monitoring program.

• Additional bills would eliminate fetal death certificates for preborn children miscarried before 20 weeks, require certain foster parents to support abortion for a foster child, allow abortion-related medical records to be kept separate from a woman or teen's medical file, and require the Department of Health to create a grant program to fund abortions in a state that already requires all insurers, including Medicaid, to pay for elective abortions.

The Details:

The five anti-life bills "in play" in the state would further push the false idea that induced abortion — the direct and intentional killing of preborn children — is a right, and would also increase risks to women. The bills include:

• HB 4834, which would remove the abortion pill from the prescription monitoring program.

• HB 4839, which would eliminate the fetal death certificates for preborn children under 20 weeks.

• HB 4966, which would require foster parents in out-of-state foster placements for Illinois youth to affirm support for abortion.

• HB 5295, which would allow abortion-related medical records to be separated from a woman's other medical files.

• HB 5408, which establishes a taxpayer-funded abortion access grant program that would pay for abortions for those who don't already qualify for state Medicaid (such as non-ciizens).

Zoom In:

HB 4834 would amend the Illinois Controlled Substances Act so that the Prescription Monitoring Program does not apply to either of the two drugs in the abortion pill regimen: mifepristone and misoprostol. This electronic database allows for the collection and tracking of data on dispensed controlled substances to help doctors and pharmacists identify potential prescription abuse and high-risk drug interactions to improve patient safety. The bill states that the "Prescription Monitoring Program [would exclude] testosterone, mifepristone, misoprostol, GnRH analogues, estrogen, [and] controlled substance prescriptions as exempted under Section 313.

The Illinois Department of Health Services website states that the Prescription Monitoring Program "serves as an essential tool to ensure the safe use of controlled substances and other drugs. Utilizing the ILPMP supports clinical decisions and improves patient outcomes."

"While prescriptions would still technically be required, this change would make it significantly more difficult to track serious complications associated with the abortion pill—such as hemorrhaging, sepsis, and infection," said Illinois Right to Life in an email. The group continued:

These are not hypothetical concerns. A recent large-scale analysis of insurance data found that nearly 11% of women experienced a serious adverse event within 45 days of taking the abortion pill.

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.

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HB 4839 would amend the Vital Records Act so that "in the case of a fetal death that occurs after a gestation period of less than 20 weeks or in the case of an abortion, no fetal death certificate shall be required for the disposition of remains."

Illinois Right to Life believes this is an act that will remove recognition of the lives of these children and further allow the denial of their existence for the benefit of the abortion industry.

HB 4966 would force out-of-state foster placements to "maintain an environment" that is "supportive" of a child's "reproductive health decisions."

It states, "Youth in the care and custody of the Department of Children and Family Services deserve all the legal protections available under the law, but the current legal protections available to these youth require a suite of statutory enhancements," including the Reproductive Health Act. "Out-of-state placements do not diminish Illinois' responsibility to ensure youth are not subjected to ... denial of care that would be lawful and medically appropriate under Illinois law."

HB 5295, the Reproductive Health Records Privacy Act, would require health information exchanges to implement policies and segregate medical information regarding abortion to prevent out-of-state entities from viewing a woman's abortion-related medical records — potentially even doctors and parents of minors.

It states that the bill would "prevent the disclosure, access, transfer, transmission, or processing of medical information related to the provision of abortion care to persons and entities outside of the State; ... [and] segregate medical information related to the provision of abortion care from the rest of the patient's record."

HB 5408 would require the Department of Public Health to "establish the Abortion Access Fund Grant Program to award grants from the Abortion Access Fund to support access to abortion care services" in the state.

Additionally, it would allow the Department of Health to "establish rules necessary to implement the Abortion Access Fund Grant Program, including eligibility criteria, grant limits, application standards, requirements for the distribution and obligation of grant funds, accounting for the use of the funds, and standards for monitoring compliance with the requirements of the Program."

It would also amend the State Finance Act to make the Abortion Access Fund a "special fund" in the State treasury.

According to Capitol News Illinois, HB 5408 would "allow people with limited or no insurance to get financial assistance for abortion care in Illinois," and "require insurance companies to report to the Department of Insurance how much money is in these separate accounts, how much has been spent, and to transfer remaining funds to the newly created state Abortion Access Fund."

This will then allow the Department of Public Health to "award grants for abortion providers to cover uninsured and underinsured individuals through a new grant program."

Since "Illinois already requires state Medicaid, ACA plans and private insurance to cover abortions," the bill's sponsor admitted, "this bill is just another way the state can support people who need abortions for reasons that don’t meet federal guidelines. Advocates said it also creates a new funding stream to help providers keep up with demand."

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.

The Bottom Line:

Illinois has already cemented itself as one of the most pro-abortion states in the nation, and has a governor who has even founded his own 501(c)4 to promote pro-abortion state constitutional amendments across the country.

In 2019, the state's Reproductive Health Act made abortion a "fundamental right," treating it as a health care procedure and forcing all insurances to cover elective abortion (including state Medicaid). It also allowed non-physicians to commit abortions.

These five new bills would further cement abortion in a state that is already leading the entire nation in the killing of preborn children.