Parents who object to their daughter’s abortion would be required to pay for it and could be held liable under a pro-choice bill that passed the Illinois House Wednesday.
The bill, H.B. 25, liberalizes the state’s abortion laws and declares abortion a “fundamental right, as Christian Headlines previously reported.
But the bill also repeals language that explicitly protected parents from being forced to pay for their daughter’s abortion if they didn’t give consent.
Current law states: “No parent shall be liable for any expense incurred by his or her minor child when an abortion is performed on such minor child without the consent of both parents of such child.” The bill – which passed, 64-50 – deletes that section of law.
Republican Rep. Avery Bourne, who voted against the bill, said during floor debate the bill targets parental rights.
“It takes out measures that we have legislated over the years, because we think it’s important to stand up for the people who are impacted,” she said.
Bourne asked the bill’s sponsor, Democratic Rep. Kelly Cassidy, why the language was removed.
“Currently under statute,” Bourne said, “a minor child goes [and] gets an abortion – her parents if they did not consent to that cannot be held liable for the expenses of that abortion. Under this piece of legislation, the parents could have to pay for the abortion their daughter had, even though it happened without their consent.”
Cassidy responded that the bill is “treating abortion care like other care.”
Bourne then asked: “So you think it is appropriate for us in statute to allow parents to be held liable for the expenses of an abortion procedure that they objected to?”
“I am saying,” Cassidy responded, “that this is treating abortion care like any other health care.”
Related:
Illinois Passes Pro-Abortion Bill: ‘Fetus Does Not Have Independent Rights’
Planned Parenthood Sues to Keep Last Missouri Abortion Clinic Open
A Pregnant Woman ‘Is Not a Mother,’ Ruth Bader Ginsburg Asserts
Abortion Is a ‘Disturbingly Effective Tool’ for Eugenics, Supreme Court Justice Warns
Netflix Threatens to Pull Out of Georgia If Pro-Life Law Takes Effect
A Democratic Governor Is Set to Sign an Abortion Ban into Law
Michael Foust is a freelance writer. Visit his blog, MichaelFoust.com.
Photo courtesy: Blake Barlow/Unsplash
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