Posted by Matt Yonke (February 25, 2010 at 1:06 pm)
Along with persuading the co-sponsors of HB6205 to drop their sponsorship, another crucial aspect of our fight is persuading members of the Human Services Committee to stop Illinois FOCA from going forward.
You’ll find a list of these Reps after the break, starting with Naomi Jakobsson (pictured to the left), the committee chair, who is also a co-sponsor of HB6205!
They are the people who get to vote on whether or not this bill moves on to the House floor. It’s important that everybody contact these representatives whether or not they are YOUR representative.
They all represent you as an Illinois citizen on this committee, so they need to hear your voice.
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Posted by Matt Yonke (February 24, 2010 at 6:58 pm)
Last year we got many of the sponsors of the Reproductive Health and Access Act to drop their sponsorship of the bill due to pressure from constituents like you.
This year, Representatives have been slower to join their names to the controversial bill. Let’s get some of those Reps to drop the bill this year!
Below you’ll find a list of all the Reps who have co-sponsored this bill. Look down the list and see if your Rep is one of them. If they are, call, fax, e-mail and even visit them if you can and tell them to drop their sponsorship of HB 6205, the Reproductive Health and Access Act today. Tell them:
- HB6205 will require taxpayers to fund thousands of Medicaid abortions—at a time of crushing fiscal crisis
- HB6205 will force Illinois school children into “condom training” sex-ed, starting in pre-school
- HB6205 will make it more difficult for women to seek justice after a botched abortion
- HB6205 will pave the way for gutting the Parental Notice Act of 1995—a measure supported by the overwhelming majority of Illinoisans
See the list after the break starting with the bill’s main sponsor, Majority Leader Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, pictured to the right. [Continue reading ...]
Posted by Eric Scheidler (February 24, 2010 at 6:23 pm)
On Monday, February 22, HB6205 was assigned to the Human Services Committee, the same body that approved the 2009 version of the Illinois FOCA bill. The Committee will consider the bill and then may vote to send it to the full House of Representatives.
Whether or not that committee vote ever takes place depends in large part on whether the Democratic leadership in the House believes they have the votes necessary to pass the measure and send it to the state Senate. In 2008, pro-life opposition to the bill kept it from ever getting out of committee. In 2009, it was approved by the committee under heavy pressure from pro-abortion groups like Personal PAC and the ACLU.
So it’s critical that we keep calling our state reps and tell them to oppose HB6205. If we can make it clear that this bill will never pass in the House, it could die at the committee level.
Posted by Eric Scheidler (February 17, 2010 at 6:57 pm)
We’ve just created a new petition expressing opposition to HB6205, the 2010 version of Illinois FOCA just filed last week. Sign your name to the petition, which will be delivered to the General Assembly in Springfield next month.
Please note: If you signed the petition against the 2009 version of Illinois FOCA, please sign the new petition, too. The bill has changed slightly and an all-new petition is required.
Posted by Matt Yonke (February 12, 2010 at 12:09 pm)
The SpeakOut Illinois Coalition, a group made up of over 30 pro-life organizations from across Illinois, is sponsoring a lobbying day in Springfield on Wednesday, March 10.
This will be a great opportunity to meet with your representative in Springfield and tell them to vote NO on HB6205.
Buses will depart from two locations, one on the north side and one on the south side of Chicago. The cost for a seat on the bus is $20 which includes lunch and an orientation session to help you effectively lobby your representative. Register today for your seat on the bus.
Our sources at the Capitol have made it clear that the flood of in-person visits from pro-lifers were key in our success in defeating Illinois FOCA last spring. Let’s make sure we repeat that crucial move this year.
Posted by Eric Scheidler (February 11, 2010 at 4:04 pm)
Illinois FOCA is back! The so-called Reproductive Health and Access Act (RHAA) was re-filed today by chief sponsor Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie (D-25th), and designated as House Bill 6205.
The new bill slightly tweaks some provisions of HB2354, the Illinois FOCA bill defeated last year by a broad coalition of pro-life and pro-family groups. When it became clear that the bill lacked enough votes to pass, the Democratic House leadership shelved the bill, in a stinging defeat for the pro-abortion lobby.
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Posted by John-Paul (April 3, 2009 at 11:06 am)
Here is an email I received this morning from Zach Wichmann of the Catholic Conference of Illinois (CCI). Apparently, the anti-life forces have conceded defeat.
Thank you so much for all of your activism, phone calls, office visits and spreading the word with your friends and family. Your participation in fighting this bill has truly made a difference in building support for life! Thank you for standing up for Life!
We have not won forever, we have won for now. We must remain vigilant.
Hello all:
I write to you today with great news! House Bill 2354 will not be called for a vote before tonight’s deadline. The proponents of the bill (Planned Parenthood and ACLU) were not able to muster the number of votes they needed, so they will not call the bill for a vote. We estimate they were some 10 to 15 votes short of the 60 required.
This great accomplishment would not have happened without your engagement in the issue. Catholics across Illinois participated in email and phone trees, took up petition drives, met with their representatives, and many drove to Springfield to lobby in the halls of the Capitol. We must also note the leadership role assumed by our Bishops and their willingness to speak out and rally our people. All of us came together and did a great thing.
Some people and/or groups are reporting that the bill is dead for the year. Perhaps. However, we must remember that there are many ways to revive legislation, and it will not harm us to remain vigilant. We will let you know quickly if anything stirs.
It will be very important that in the weeks to come we thank those legislators who stood up for what is right and begin to think about how to build this network of opposition to House Bill 2354 into something bigger and more important — a network dedicated to the protection of human life and religious freedom.
But for today, enjoy this well-earned win and take time to thank God. There are certainly more struggles ahead but not here, not today.
Zach Wichmann
Catholic Conference of Illinois
Associate Director for Education
Posted by Mary-Louise Kurey (April 2, 2009 at 4:51 pm)
Some pro-lifers are thinking the FOCA battle is over because one of the main sponsors of the bill, Sara Feigenholtz, sent an email to a dedicated pro-life activist stating that the bill has been “recalled,” shelved by its supporters for the year.
However, let’s not count our chickens before they’re hatched. Last night, abortion advocates moved the bill into position so that it could be passed in 24 hours by holding it on Calendar Order of Second Reading - Short Debate.
At the time of writing, there is much jockeying taking place in Springfield, including committed pro-lifers reaching out to legislators to defeat the bill. Things look good, but keep those calls coming! State Reps still need to know that this bill continues to be unacceptable with Amendment #2. If you haven’t called you State Rep yet to let him or her know that Amendment #2 does not satisfy your concerns, please do so today!
Hopefully by tomorrow around this time, we will know for certain that the opposition doesn’t have the votes and the leadership has chosen not to extend the deadline. At that point, we will truly know that FOCA is dead for the time being. Until that moment of certainty, we need to keep persevering!
Posted by John-Paul (April 2, 2009 at 2:21 pm)
Rep. Bill Mitchell, (R-Forsyth, IL) wrote the following opinion letter against the Illinois FOCA bill—HB2354. Please send him a thank you e-mail and ask your Rep. to take a strong public stand in the media against HB 2354 like Rep. Mitchell. Call your State Rep NOW and say NO to HB 2354!
To the Editor:
At a time when Macon County has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state at over 10%, the Chicago Democratic leadership in Springfield is pursuing one of the most radical and extreme abortion on demand bills in Illinois’ history. Rather than focusing on putting Illinoisans back to work, HB 2354 was introduced that would:
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Posted by Matt Yonke (April 1, 2009 at 5:46 pm)
Highly regarded chastity speaker and founder of Enlighten Communications, Inc. Pam Stenzel has shared her thoughts on HB2354 in correspondence with one of our activists:
Obviously, this horrific piece of legislation would not only end the lives of thousands of innocent children, it would hurt thousands of women and their partners who will never be given “choice” or information about the consequences of [abortion] (which are both physical and emotional).
This deprives parents of their God-given responsibility to protect and teach their own children. It deprives every physician, health-care worker, therapist and social worker of the right to work within their conscience and value system. It will continue the heinous rape of minors by adults, who will be able to continue to use children for sex without risk of being exposed or consequence.
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