Dupage Policy Journal

State Rep. Grant Wehrli (R-Naperville) has a strongly held belief behind his reason for opposing the latest abortion legislation working its way through Springfield.

“Late-term abortion is inhumane to the child and just wrong any way you look it,” Wehrli told DuPage Policy Journal in reference to House Bill 2495 and Senate Bill 1942, which would repeal the current state ban on partial-birth abortions. The bill would also do away with the current law that stipulates only doctors can perform abortions and strip away protections for medical officials who currently don’t participate in such procedures.

Wehrli said he is just as opposed to House Bill 2467 and Senate Bill 1954, identical pieces of legislation that would repeal the Illinois Parental Notification of Abortion Act requiring that a parent or legal guardian be notified prior to an abortion being performed on a teenager, that has officially stood as the law since 2013.

Illinois State Rep. Grant Wehrli (R-Naperville)

“Gov. Pritzker wants to make Illinois the most progressive state in the union and that’s not restricted to just fiscal policies,” Wehrli added. “Everyone thinks partial-birth abortions are an unreasonable measure and he is taking us to a place where we are being totally unreasonable.”

As for the bill related to the parental notification, Wehrli asks what happens in a situation where a teenager goes through the process of having an abortion performed all alone and it leads to other complications.

“It is a medical procedure, and I think a parent or a guardian needs to know just in case something isn’t right,” he said. “I mean, something like depression wouldn’t be too surprising.”

With so many voters seemingly opposed to such legislation, Wehrli said he thinks he knows why the Democratic governor has already vowed to sign off on it if he gets the chance.

“Democrats have supermajorities and the governor wants to walk hand-in-hand with them in making Illinois a bastion of progressiveness,” he said. “He’s being pushed by those on the hard left.”