Parental Notification Repeal Bill

NOW is the time to call your state legislator (even if you’ve already called) and tell her/him to vote “NO” on the bill to repeal parental notification.  It is most important that constituents of KATIE STEWART and JAY HOFFMAN call and tell them to vote “NO” on the bill to repeal parental notification.

Below is a great commentary to set the record straight on the lies being spread by abortion advocates.  There are several links in the commentary that contain additional information:

It all comes down to this. 

After months of fighting tooth and nail to repeal the Illinois Parental Notification of Abortion Law, abortion advocates have just days to get their signature piece of legislation out of committee and to the floor for a vote. It remains to be seen whether or not pro-abortion extremists will try a sneaky Memorial Day weekend vote as they did with the Reproductive Health Act in 2019. What we do know is this: 

Something as important as repealing Parental Notification of Abortion deserves careful consideration. 

Parental Notification of abortion is a commonsense law that simply requires abortion providers to notify a parent, grandparent, or guardian before a minor girl undergoes an abortion — a surgical procedure or chemical procedure that, as we all know, poses both mental and physical risks to young girls. 

The vast majority of Illinois voters agree that parents have a right to know about a minor girl’s abortion. A recent Terrance poll found that 72% support keeping our Parental Notification of Abortion. In fact, a full 58% of voters who consider themselves “pro-choice” support Parental Notification!

Predictably, abortion advocates intent on repealing Parental Notification have been playing fast and loose with the facts surrounding the issue. Below are three of their most often-used lies that they keep repeating – and the truth that contradicts their “facts”.: 

1. Abortion advocates claim: “Saying that repealing parental notification will embolden sex traffickers and sexual predators is a red herring.”

This false claim doesn’t even pass the straight-face test! Reputable studies and the personal testimony of trafficking victims have shown that minor girls are often forced to have abortions by their abusers. Here are just a few examples:

• Renee Pollino, owner of My Half of the Sky, a Wheaton coffeehouse dedicated to fighting human trafficking, addiction, extreme poverty, and other societal problems, Pollino also works closely with survivors of trafficking. She said,  “The average age of a girl who’s trafficked in the United States is 13. There hasn’t been one woman who’s worked for me or that I’ve been friends with who is a [sex trafficking] survivor who hasn’t had numerous abortions as a minor.” She described how one exploited woman’s first abortion was when she was eight years old, the first of five coerced abortions. You can watch a statement from Renee Pollino here.  

• Dr. Brook Bello, founder and CEO of More To Life, an organization that helps women escape sex trafficking, was herself trafficked as a teen. She was forced to have several abortions while still a minor, abortions that led to severe health complications later in life. You can hear Dr. Bello’s harrowing story here.  

• Live Action conducted extensive undercover research into Planned Parenthood’s cover-up of child sex abuse. While these videos were not filmed in Illinois due to our state laws, they clearly illustrate that Planned Parenthood is complicit in hiding sexual abuse of minors, something Parental Notification helps to prevent. You can watch the videos here.  

2. Abortion advocates claim: “It is cruel to force teens to tell their parents about a personal medical decision! You can’t mandate good communication in families! We cannot legislate trust and respect!

Stating that teens must be the ones to notify their parents about their abortion is a bald-faced lie being perpetuated to create a false narrative that frightened young children will need to tell their parents – by themselves — about pregnancy. In fact, this is the truth of Illinois’ Parental Notification law:

• Illinois law requires the abortion clinic to notify one parent, a step-parent living in the home, or a legal guardian 48 hours before a minor girl undergoes an abortion, NOT the minor girl herself. 

• Only ONE family member needs to be notified by the abortion clinic, and the minor girl can choose who is notified and how they are notified.

• The family member does not have to give consent to the abortion, they simply must be notified.

• This is how one Chicago abortion clinic, Family Planning Associates, describes how Parental Notice works: “An Parental Notice of Abortion Law is now in effect in the state of Illinois. The law requires that we notify a parent OR grandparent, step-parent living in the same home or a legal guardian, before a patient who is under the age of 18 can have an abortion procedure. Only one adult family member needs to be notified, and the patient can choose who is notified and how they will be notified. Notification is not the same thing as consent. The adult family member does not have to give permission for the abortion procedure, or agree with your decision. The law only requires that patients under the age of 18 and your health care provider tell an adult family member that you are going to have an abortion procedure.” 

3. Abortion advocates claim: “It is traumatizing for a girl to have to go before a judge to get an abortion!”

Realizing that some minor girls have challenging home lives, or no home life at all, Illinois’ Parental Notification law allows for a judicial bypass in certain circumstances. 

Stating that going before a judge is traumatizing to minor girls actually works in favor of Parental Notification — if a young girl is not mature enough to handle going before a judge, she certainly isn’t mature enough to be making a decision as grave as whether or not to have an abortion without adult guidance. 

What Can You Do?

• Follow Parents for the Protection of Girls, a coalition including Illinois Right to Life Action and other groups concerned with girls’ safety, on Facebook.

• Contact your legislators and let them know that something as important as repealing the Parental Notification of Abortion deserves careful consideration, not a last-minute vote on or just before a holiday weekend. Tell them to keep Illinois’ Parental Notification of Abortion law in place. You can find your legislators here. 

Yours in life,

Amy Gehrke

Spokesperson

Illinois Right to Life Action