Illinois bill will require hospitals to refer preemie parents to services

A new law in Illinois will require hospital staff to refer parents of severely premature babies to services to help them.

Key Takeaways:

• Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed a bill to ensure all parents of premature infants weighing less than about two pounds at birth are given access to the resources their babies need and are entitled to.

• The bill amends previous laws and will require hospitals to distribute materials to parents of premature babies, informing them of available early intervention services.

• Babies born as young as 21 weeks can survive when given proper medical care, but Illinois allows abortion for any reason through 'viability,' which is about 24 weeks, and after for "health" reasons.

The Details:

Illinois HB 3327 amends the Department of Early Childhood Act to expand the definition of "eligible infants and toddlers" to include infants with a birth weight of less than 1,000 grams (about 2.2 pounds). It also amends the Hospital Licensing Act to require hospitals to distribute materials to the babies' parents informing them of the early intervention services available to their children. A nurse or physical therapist must talk to the parents about the child's rights to these services.

The bill, authored by Illinois state Rep. Janet Yang Rohr, states that beginning July 1, 2026, the department will be required to develop informational materials and handouts for hospitals to give to the parents or guardians of micro-preemie newborns. Those newborns will qualify for early intervention services up until their third birthday.

Gov. JB Pritzker signed HB 3327 on August 15.

The Backstory:

Rohr wrote the bill following an article published by The Hechinger Report exposing that hospitals often fail to inform parents of the availability of services for premature babies when they graduate from the neonatal intensive care unit.

In that article, writer Sarah Carr appeared to allude to the idea that it costs more for later interventions, writing, "Despite these encouraging gains, there’s an abysmal record across the country, exemplified by Chicago, of helping these babies after they exit the NICU, particularly with access to the therapies that most reduce their risk of needing intensive, and expensive, special education services as schoolchildren" (emphasis added). Carr also noted:

Federal law says children with developmental delays, including newborns with significant likelihood of a delay, can get early intervention from birth to age 3. States design their own programs and set their own funding levels, however. They also set some of the criteria for which newborns are automatically eligible, typically relying on qualifying conditions like Down syndrome or cerebral palsy, extreme prematurity or low birthweight. Nationally, far fewer infants and toddlers receive the therapies than should.

According to Carr, only one percent of these babies under the age of one receive the support they need and are entitled to.

“The problem is that these families often don’t know about these services,” explained Yang Rohr. “So this bill improves that early intervention process by requiring NICU staff to share information about these services and requires hospital staff to write a referral to these programs for families that are eligible.”

Sen. Ram Villivalam supported the bill, saying "Early intervention is life-changing for many families, as these programs provide critical services and therapies as children develop. But, these services can only benefit those they are able to reach, which means uplifting the program and expanding its outreach to those who need it is imperative."

Why It Matters:

Despite this bill, Illinois is also one of the most pro-abortion states in the country, allowing for children the same size and ages as these premature babies to be intentionally killed in the womb by lethal injection or dismemberment. Abortion is legal for any reason up to so-called viability, which abortionists have admitted is based on their own opinions, but, according to Chicago.gov, is considered about 24-26 weeks. Yet, babies born as young as 21 weeks have survived with proper medical care.

Pritzker has a history of signing some of the most dangerous pro-abortion bills in existence. He also announced free abortions for women in prison in 2022 and mandated that insurance companies pay for abortions in 2024. In other words, Illinois law is now ensuring that premature babies deemed 'worthy and wanted' receive the support they need to thrive, while those deemed 'unworthy and unwanted' can be violently killed.

The Hechinger Report touts itself as a “nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education,” but is financially backed by some of the deepest pro-abortion pockets in the world. A recent article by the outlet took aim at Live Action's “Baby Olivia” prenatal development video, which is based on facts sourced from the Endowment for Human Development (EHD), a self-described “nonprofit organization dedicated to improving health science education and public health” that is “​​committed to neutrality regarding all controversial bioethical issues.” EHD's award-winning prenatal development DVD, which uses the same milestones and timelines for prenatal development (from fertilization) as those featured in “Baby Olivia,” is distributed by National Geographic.

But The Hechinger Report quoted abortionist Nisha Verma as erroneously claiming that Baby Olivia "attempts to advance anti-abortion policies...." In reality, the Baby Olivia video does not mention abortion at all.

The article also quoted Stephanie Vazzano, a therapist from New Hampshire, who said, “My biggest concern is that [“Baby Olivia” is] set up to come from a moralistic and fear-based place as opposed to a medical or wellness model. They do have some facts. When you watch them you can be really seduced by those facts … but then these other things get slipped in.”

Baby Olivia is simply explaining what happens in the womb, and those facts should make people think twice about killing human beings by abortion.

The Bottom Line:

Oddly, it appears that both Illinois and The Hechinger Report find it compassionate to help "wanted" babies born at 21 weeks and kill "unwanted" babies still in the womb at 21 weeks.

All babies deserve their best chance at life, and Illinois' new law will hopefully help premature infants thrive. It is unfortunate that Illinois' laws do not recognize those infants as human beings with rights from the moment they actually begin to exist.