An Update on Illinois’ Version of FOCA

I wrote the fiolllowing Big B File back on March 4, 2009:

            The Big B Files wrote about the Federal Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) recently.   Illinois’ Version of the bill is currently going through the Illinois General Assembly.  The Illinois Reproductive Health and Access Act, the Illinois version of the Federal Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) (HB 2354).  Illinois Representatives Barbara Flynn Currie – Rosemary Mulligan – Naomi D. Jakobsson – Elizabeth Coulson – Sara Feigenholtz, Julie Hamos, Elaine Nekritz, Karen May, Lou Lang, Karen A. Yarbrough, Greg Harris, David E. Miller, Annazette Collins, Elizabeth Hernandez, Mike Boland, Cynthia Soto, John A. Fritchey, Harry Osterman, Maria Antonia Berrios, Kathleen A. Ryg, Constance A. Howard, Luis Arroyo, William D. Burns, Susana A Mendoza, Deborah Mell, Arthur L. Turner and Mark H. Beaubien Jr. have sponsored this legislation and have expressed their eagerness to pass it. 

            It is not Currently known whether Governor Pat Quinn will sign or Veto the legislation if it makes it to his desk.  You can click here to view the version of the letter that you can use for Pro-Life Members of the Illinois General Assembly or you can click here to view the version of the letter that you can use for Pro-Choice Members of the Illinois General Assembly.

• UPDATE
• =========================================================================================

The Bill  . . . the Illinois Reproductive Health and Access Act . . . passed out of the Human Services Committee by a 5 to 2 voice vote on March 13th, and is awaiting a vote by the full Illinois House.   The following  groups are  members of a group formed to try to defeat FOCA in Illinois (courtesy of  StopIllinoisFOCA.com - the Internet arm of the Coalition To Defeat HB2354:

Coalition Members

• Concerned Women For America
• Couples for Christ Foundation for Family and Life
• Effingham County Right to Life
• Ill. Federation for Right to Life
• Illini Collegians For Life
• Illinois Citizens for Ethics
• Illinois Citizens for Life
• Illinois Lutherans for Life
• Illinois Right to Life Committee
• Pro-Life Action League
• Students for Life of Illinois
• Thomas More Society
• WhatTheFOCA.com
• Women’s Care Clinic

 

You can click here to see all the Big B Files that deal with the Freedom of Choice Act and the Federal, State and Local levels.  there is still no indicatio n whether Governor Pat Quinn will sigh the Illinois Reproductive Health and Access Act  or not at this point . . .stau tuned.  meanwhile, William Davis, Al Riley, Monique D. Davis, Esther Golar, Deborah L. Graham, Jack D. Franks and Kenneth Dunkin have all added their names as cosponsers of the bill while  Rep. Edward J. Acevedo, Rep. Daniel J. Burke, Rep. Robert Rita and Rep. LaShawn K. Ford hadtheir names removed as cosponsors of this bill.

      Bishop George Lucas of Springfield, IL Diocese wrote the following letter in the Catholic Times and to All Parishes in the Diocese of Springfield, IL:

Passage of HB 2354 would endanger right of conscience

Written by Bishop Lucas

03/22/2009

Dear Friends in Christ,I write to you about a serious threat to our freedom to practice our Catholic faith in the state of Illinois. Bishop George Lucas  A bill has been introduced in the Illinois General Assembly (HB 2354, the Reproductive Health and Access Act) that would remove the right to conscientious objection to abortion and related procedures for all health care workers. For 30 years we have been told by the courts and by legislators that abortion is a rare but necessary tragedy and that abortion providers should not face legal punishment. Now some are proposing that abortion is a human right, and worse, that those who would try to qualify it in any way or who will not provide it should be punished under law. This proposed law will drive Catholic doctors and nurses from health care and will make it impossible for Catholic hospitals to continue to be places where life is always respected, where no one is deliberately killed. In our country, we recognize conscientious objection to war, even though defending one’s country is a noble and moral act. We recognize the conscientious objection of those doctors who will not cooperate in administering the death penalty, even for terrible crimes. Some Illinois legislators want to take away conscientious objection to abortion. The enemies of human life and religious freedom in Illinois are well funded. Pressure on legislators is great and is increasing. I ask you to contact your representative this week to express your dismay that the Illinois legislature, elected democratically, would debate a bill that removes freedom of conscientious decision-making for health care workers as a condition of their employment. Surely people of good will can agree that the State should not come between a health care worker and God. Unfortunately we have had to live with the fact that our laws no longer protect unborn human life. We cannot live with the prospect that our laws will no longer protect conscience. In 1844, Abraham Lincoln broke with his own party, the often anti-Catholic Whigs, and proposed: “Resolved, that the guarantee of the rights of conscience, as found in our Constitution, is most sacred and inviolable, and one that belongs no less to the Catholic, than to the Protestant; and that all attempts to abridge or interfere with these rights, either of Catholic or Protestant, directly or indirectly, have our decided disapprobation, and shall ever have our most effective opposition.” Illinois HB 2354 betrays the legacy of Lincoln in his home state. Catholics and all people of good will should work to ensure its defeat. I also ask you to thank those legislators who are courageously opposing HB 2354 and to pray for those who are supporting it. To contact your legislator, please go to www.ilga.gov, or call (312) 368-1066. Sincerely in Christ, Most Reverend George J. Lucas Bishop of Springfield in Illinois

 

If the bill passes in IL, the Far-Left will be emboldened like never before to get FOCA passed nationally.

Illinois’ Version of FOCA

            The Big B Files wrote about the Federal Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) recently.   Illinois’ Version of the bill is currently going through the Illinois General Assembly.  The Illinois Reproductive Health and Access Act, the Illinois version of the Federal Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) (HB 2354).  Illinois Representatives Barbara Flynn Currie – Rosemary Mulligan – Naomi D. Jakobsson – Elizabeth Coulson – Sara Feigenholtz, Julie Hamos, Elaine Nekritz, Karen May, Lou Lang, Karen A. Yarbrough, Greg Harris, David E. Miller, Annazette Collins, Elizabeth Hernandez, Mike Boland, Cynthia Soto, John A. Fritchey, Harry Osterman, Maria Antonia Berrios, Kathleen A. Ryg, Constance A. Howard, Luis Arroyo, William D. Burns, Susana A Mendoza, Deborah Mell, Arthur L. Turner and Mark H. Beaubien Jr. have sponsored this legislation and have expressed their eagerness to pass it. 

            It is not Currently known whether Governor Pat Quinn will sign or Veto the legislation if it makes it to his desk.  You can click here to view the version of the letter that you can use for Pro-Life Members of the Illinois General Assembly or you can click here to view the version of the letter that you can use for Pro-Choice Members of the Illinois General Assembly.

Freedom Of Choice Act . . . Anything BUT Choice!

The Freedom of Choice Act is the subject of this Big B File.

I am so concerned about the Passage of this Big B File that I sent the following letter to my representatives in Congress, Senator Kit Bond, Congressman Lacy Clay, Senator Claire McCaskill (bold Print included in letters to Congressman Lacy Clay &  Senator Claire McCaskill):

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Sunday, January 25, 2009

 

Dear Senator Kit Bond, Congressman Lacy Clay, Senator Claire McCaskill,

           Recently, President Barak Obama has indicated that he would sign the Freedom of Choice if it gets to his desk. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senators Dick Durbin, Chuck Schumer, Ted Kennedy have expressed their eagerness to pass it.

I would like to get your responses to the following questions….

• Are you for taking away the rights of states? According to a legal analysis done on FOCA for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which says the following:

               As a general matter, if FOCA were enacted, it would wipe out a very large number of existing state laws on abortion, substantially impede the ability of states to regulate abortion, and override nearly 40 years of jurisprudential experience on the subject of abortion. FOCA does this for several reasons.
              First, FOCA states that the decision whether to have an abortion is a “fundamental” right. Under existing case law, a decision to have an abortion is not a fundamental right as it was under Roe. In 1992, seven justices rejected that view and concluded that the Court’s earlier decisions under Roe had too severely and improperly restricted the states’ power to regulate abortion. Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833, 873-87 (1992) (O’Connor, Kennedy, Souter, J1.) (concluding that the Court’s earlier decisions had gone “too far” and that “[..not all governmental intrusion [into abortion] is of necessity unwarranted”); id. at 944 (Rehnquist, C.J., joined by White, Scalia, and Thomas, JJ.) (concurring in part, dissenting in part) (agreeing that earlier decisions had gone too far, and urging that Roe be overruled altogether). In judging the constitutionality of abortion laws, the Casey plurality abandoned the use of strict scrutiny, a rigorous test traditionally reserved for the protection of fundamental rights and usually fatal to the challenged law, and substituted for it an undue burden test. The latter test prevents government from imposing a “substantial obstacle” in the path of a woman seeking an abortion before viability. Id. at 878 (emphasis added).

                Here in Missouri, some of the laws that would be wiped off the books if FOCA passes include Parental consent for minors prior to an abortion, Partial-Birth Abortion ban (infanticide law), No taxpayer-funded abortions, 24-hour waiting period and informed consent prior to an abortion, Only physicians can perform or induce abortions, Conscience protections for pro-life doctors and hospitals who don’t want to do abortions; No abortions in order to use fetal organs or tissue for transplantation or experimentation, Licensing of most abortion clinics as ambulatory surgical centers to ensure basic health and safety of the patients, Requiring medical malpractice for doctors who perform or induce abortions, alternatives to abortion programs to encourage and support women who choose not to abort their unborn child.

Are you in favor of taking away parental rights? FOCA would do just that by denying parents the right to raise their kids how they see fit. The kids belong to their parents and NOT the government nor organizations like Planned Parenthood, Now, Pro-Choice America, and others. The parents should have the final decision on whether their daughter has an abortion or not and have the right to be told if their child wants an abortion.

•               Are you in favor of taking away the first amendment right of people of faith? The first amendment says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” FOCA will force Pharmacists, Doctors, and other health professionals to violate their morals and Religious Beliefs and perform Abortion procedures, dispense contraception (a form of abortion and in direct violate of numerous religious teachings, including the Roman Catholic Church). Just ask pharmacists Carol Muzzarelli, of Collinsville, Kelly Hubble, of Belleville, G. Richard Quayle, of Highland and John Menges, formerly of Edwardsville (all Illinois). They were suspended when they refused to violate their religious beliefs and dispense the morning after pill, a form of birth control. The Illinois Supreme Court heard arguments in the case in December 2008 and the case is Menges, et al. v. Blagojevich (U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois) and go to http://www.aclj.org/Litigation/?state=IL for other cases in this area. This would also apply to people like myself, who would be forced to pay for someone else’s abortion…via the taxes we pay to our respective states and to the Federal Government…forcing us to do something that runs contrary to my values and religious convictions and those of others like me. These tax dollars are the same tax dollars used to pay your salary!
•                 Are you in favor of denying the first amendment rights of Doctors, Nurses and other medical professionals to exercise their religious? FOCA would do this by forcing them to dispense contraception and/or perform abortions in direct violation of their religious beliefs, morals, and consciences.
•                 Are you in favor of violating the part of the first amendment that says, ”Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” especially the part that says “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”. FOCA would force catholic hospitals and other Catholic Healthcare facilities to provide abortions and contraceptives, along with forcing Catholic organizations like Catholic Charities, St. Vincent DePaul Society, and others to pay for and/or provide abortion and contraceptive services (through programs such as Catholic Charities’ MedAssist Program)…all in direct violation of Code of Cannon Law and official Roman Catholic Church Teaching AND the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

                          You have stated in the past that you want to “protect a woman’s right to choose”. Okay fine… a woman’s right to choose what… abortion or want? What is the other option besides abortion?    I strongly urge you to oppose the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) and do everything possible to ensure its defeat once and for all. I would very much appreciate your response, please go to http://big-b.net/feedback.htmlor send them to me at 2192A Keeven Lane in Florissant, MO 63031.

Sincerely Yours,

 

 

Bryan V. Hewing
Author and commentator of the Big B Files
2192A Keeven Lane
Florissant, MO 63031
bvh

 

 

 

Novena to defeat the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) – January 11-20, 2009

Dear Big B Files Readers,

     Please mark on your calendar the day to start this Novena, Jan 11th. Our prayers are desperately needed.  If you are opposed to abortion then there is bad news on the horizon. I know that most of you are aware. For those of you who do not know, the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) is set to be signed if congress passes iton January 21-22 of2009. The FOCA is the next sick chapter in the book of abortion. If made a law then all limitations on abortion will be lifted which will result in the following:

1. All hospitals, including Catholic hospitals will be required to perform abortions upon request. If this happens Bishops vow to close down all Catholic hospitals, more then 30% of all hospitals in the United States.   (We can only imagine what kind of repercussions this will have on our Church.)
2. Partial birth abortions would be legal and have no limitations.
3. All U.S. tax payers would be funding abortions.
4. Parental notification will no longer be required.
5. The number of abortions will increase by a minimum of 100,000 annually.

     Perhaps most importantly, the government will now have control in the issue of abortion. This could result in a future amendment that would force women by law to have abortions in certain situations (rape, Down Syndrome babies, etc) and could even regulate how many children women are allowed to have

     Needless to say this information is disturbing, but sadly true. As Catholics, as Christians, as anyone who is against the needless killing of innocent children, we must stand as one. We must stop this horrific act before it becomes a law.
The Plan: To say a novena (9 days of prayer) along with fasting starting on January 11th. For Catholics, the prayer of choice will be the Rosary with intentions to stop the FOCA. For non-Catholics I encourage you to ptay your strongest prayers with the same intentions, also for nine consecutive days. The hope is that this will branch and blossom as to become a global effort with maximum impact. We have very little time so we all must act fast. Just do three things:

• Pass this letter to 5 or more people.
• Do it in three days or less.
• Start the novena on January 11th and pray for nine consecutive days.

     Remember that with God all things are possible and the power of prayer is undeniable. If you are against the senseless killing of defenseless children then the time is now to do something about it!   Please also fast for at least two days during the novena.

May God bless you all !!

“If you pray well, you will live well, if you live well, you will die well; and if you die well, all will be well.”

- St. Augustine

“We cannot fight credibly against other social and moral evils, including poverty and violence, while we tolerate mass killings by abortion.”

- Mother Teresa of Calcutta