A measure that would use taxpayer money to fund abortions for Medicaid recipients and state employees is under consideration by the General Assembly this week.
Illinois House Bill 4013 amends several provisions that previously prevented the use of taxpayer money to cover abortions for state-run medical programs and insurance. Many groups oppose the bill and fear the precedent it may set if passed.
Carol Wright, public relations director of pro-life group Illinois Citizens for Life, said that if the bill goes into effect, the state will see a rise in abortions.
| Contributed photo
“If it goes into effect, taxpayers will be forced to pay for abortions for everyone on Medicaid, so it will greatly increase the number of abortions per year," Wright said. "Taxpayers would also have to pay for state employees, too, if they wish to use that service. At a time when the state is so financially strapped, I don’t understand what they are thinking.”
The state is currently running on a temporary stopgap budget, which expires at the end of December. If the bill passes, taxpayers will be on the hook for abortions by Medicaid recipients and state workers. Wright said this is wrong because it goes against the values of her group.
“In the first place, we’re opposed to abortions,” Wright said. “We think that women need help. They don’t need to kill the children. They need help to be able to present their children for adoption or have their child, raise it and enjoy it. We don’t believe that there is ever a proper reason to kill a child. To think that people with our faith, beliefs and values would be forced to pay for it with our tax dollars is unbelievable.”
Wright said women have alternatives to abortions.
“There are many more crisis planning centers in Illinois than abortion clinics,” Wright said. “They are there to help the women -- to help them either plan to mother their child or place their child up for adoption. There are people longing to adopt a baby.”
To ensure that adoptions are a better option, Wright suggested that Illinois could make it easier for women to place their children up for adoption and make it less complicated and expensive for prospective adoptive parents or families. She also suggested that every woman look at the ultrasound of her child before making a decision to abort.
“When women see an ultrasound and realize that that’s their child they are looking at, they rarely choose to abort the baby,” Wright said.
With regard to policies that may infringe upon a woman’s right over her own body and her health, Wright said abortion is not an easy decision. There are consequences.
“Unfortunately, women think that it’s an easy solution, but they don’t realize that they are going to regret it so much later,” she said. “There are so many stories of women who regret having made that decision. Even in cases of rape and incest. Women who are raped and do carry the baby…psychologically, they feel that they recover much better because they don’t have the guilt. It wasn’t their fault that they were raped, but it is their fault that they decide to kill the child.”
Wright urged those who oppose the bill to call their legislators and get their voices heard.
“I just think that it is unbelievable that they want taxpayers to pay for something that they so strenuously object to,” she said.
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