Dozens of pro-life advocates gathered outside the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield to rally against Senate Bill 1909 Wednesday (April 26). The bill would force pregnancy centers opposed to abortion to provide information to clients about the procedure and impose fines of up to $50,000 on centers for sharing what abortion advocates deem as “deceptive” information. The bill easily passed in the state Senate and may be brought for a vote on the House floor at any time.
Senator Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro) told the crowd, “We’re called to speak up for those cannot speak for themselves. I know quite often I may not win the battle [on the abortion front] but I might win a life.”
Bryant said proponents of abortion often say women have a choice whether to give birth and become a mother. “If it’s really about choice, don’t we really want to give them the choice of an ultrasound?” she asked. Most pregnancy resource clinics offer this opportunity. If one cannot be done onsite, referrals are offered. Bryant is the sponsor of a bill that would require clinics performing abortions after 8 weeks gestation, to give the mother “an opportunity to receive and view an active ultrasound of her unborn child by someone qualified to perform ultrasounds.” The bill failed to gain traction in the Senate and did not make it out of committee during the spring session.
The rally was organized by Illinois Right to Life (IRL), which reports there are about 100 pregnancy resource centers in Illinois that offer alternative to abortion for women with crisis pregnancies, 50 of those centers are within 100 miles of Chicago. Baptist Children’s Home and Family Services (BCHS), one of three entities forming the Illinois Baptist State Association (IBSA), operates GraceHaven Pregnancy Resource Clinic in Mt. Vernon. The center offers pregnancy tests, ultrasound imaging, testing for sexually transmitted diseases, and mentoring for women seeking alternatives to abortion.
In online campaigns and other media, many ordinary women and celebrities have boasted that they would not have achieved their dreams and been as happy as they are had they not had an abortion. Tom Usle, the Upper Midwest Coordinator for Students for Life, referenced them saying, “It’s a twisted world we live in where women are told they have to kill their child to be successful.” Should the bill pass, he remarked, “It would be so sad that women in Illinois wouldn’t know where they could turn to for help. So many already don’t know pregnancy resource centers exist.”
Usle told of a recent visit to the University of Chicago where he asked to have pregnancy resource centers added to its online list of student health resources but was turned down. Staff told him Planned Parenthood was already on the list. “When I asked what choices Planned Parenthood offered, they couldn’t tell me.”
SB 1909 is officially titled the “Deceptive Practices of Limited Services Pregnancy Centers Act.” Meanwhile, pro-life advocates refer to the contentious bill as the “Forced Abortion Information Act.” The March 31 Senate vote fell along party lines with 36 Democrats voting for the bill, 19 Republicans against, and four not voting. There were 8,942 witness slips on record against the bill and just 2,725 in support of it.
In the House the bill is known as HB 2463 and passed out of committee April 25 where over 17,000 pro-life advocates registered legislative witness slips in opposition of it versus roughly 3,000 in support.
The state of California passed a similar bill, which was overturned in 2018 by the U.S. Supreme Court in NIFLA v. Becerra for its unconstitutional targeting of pregnancy centers. Should SB 1909 pass, it would go into effect immediately, but a court appeal is expected.
The spring session of the General Assembly has a deadline to pass bills by May 31.