Dupage Policy Journal

Wayne County Board Treasurer Jackie Hayden is convinced that Democratic state Rep. Karina Villa (West Chicago) is a hypocrite.

“In early April, we went down to Springfield and had a picture taken holding hands with three nuns doing Hail Mary’s outside Mike Madigan’s office over abortion legislation, and now she’s supporting all of it,” Hayden told the DuPage Policy Journal. “To go from an anti-abortion crusade to this says it all.”

Hayden said reports that Madigan provided Villa upwards of $900,000 in her general election win over Republican Tonia Khouri in the 49th District should be of little consequence in this instance.

State Rep. Karina Villa (D-West Chicago)

 “You’re doing Hail Mary’s in front of his office,” she said. “I’ve made many attempts to reach her, sent her emails, but she wouldn’t respond.”

Hayden is taking Villa to task for her support of Senate Bill 25 and the overall way Democrats have tried to ram it through the legislature. Also known as the Reproductive Health Act, the bill would repeal the state’s ban on partial-birth abortions, establish “the fundamental right” of a pregnant woman to have an abortion and states that “a fertilized egg, embryo or fetus does not have independent rights.” 

The controversial bill quietly passed in the House late Sunday evening over the Memorial Day weekend. It now sits in the Senate, where Gov. J.B. Pritzker has already urged his Democratic majority to “take swift action.”

“I think it’s a travesty,” Hayden said. “I come from a medical family and in my opinion this is not a reproductive bill. It’s taking away the rights of the man and taking away the rights of parents. This is a cancer that will only cause more damage. People need to be educated about it because it is only going to get worse.”