Dupage Policy Journal

Babies are not bargaining chips, according to Rep. Peter Breen (R-Lombard).

Rising against HB 40, which funds taxpayer-subsidized abortions, during the Tuesday's floor debate, Breen said that as the General Assembly is wrapping up the budget process for the year, hard-hitting choices are being made on programs.

“But there are also items that are non-negotiable between the parties,” Breen said.

Not one House or Senate Republican supported HB 40 last year, and they still don’t. 

However, there is a big difference between the past and present, according to Breen, who said that the General Assembly currently is faced with whether to fund the Democrat-sponsored elective abortion bill.  

“This is the first year when that question will be answered..." Been said. "[W]hen last year’s appropriations bills were passed, there was no concept that the Department of Healthcare and Family Services would later use those moneys to pay for elective abortions.”

The estimated numbers of state-funded abortions is staggering, according to Breen. 

“The state would pay for between 30,000 abortions on the high-end and 20,000 abortions on the low-end each and every year,” he added.

He said abortion clinic lobbyists are salivating at the price tag of new money that will come their way from the Democratic legislators they control. 

“In the wake of House Bill 40, the largest abortion provider in Illinois publicly posted its plans to open four new clinics in our state,” Breen added.

Breen said that it is not just GOP lawmakers who loathe the idea. He cited a recent survey that states that while 89 percent of Republicans oppose taxpayer-funded abortions, 56 percent of independents and 43 percent of Democrats also dislike the idea.

“Our congressmen and women in Washington, for all their dysfunction, still understand and respect this deeply held belief,” Breen said, adding that in the federal appropriations package, Congress clarifies that tax dollars may not be used for elective abortions.

The Illinois GOP feels the same, he said. 

“We who are pro-life are not going to be complicit in your plan to terminate 30,000 innocent little lives next year,” Breen added.

As for Democrats, he made it clear what they can do.

“You go to the people of this state, and you explain how you raised taxes to make sure there was money to pay for your 30,000 elective abortions every year,” Breen said.

Breen said that if lawmakers stop the barbaric program, Illinois' citizens will surely thank them—"especially those tiniest Illinoisans, in their mothers’ wombs, whose very survival hinges on the decisions of this General Assembly over these final three days of [the] legislative session.”