The Democrat-led Illinois Senate has voted to repeal a law requiring a parent to be notified at least 48 hours before their child has an abortion. The bill heads to the House for passage, and Governor JB Pritzker also approves.
Parental consent is not required for a minor to get an abortion in Illinois, and the parental notification statute allowed the minor in question to waive the notification if they are concerned for their safety. Adopted in 1995, the statute only went into effect in 2013. Just one minor has reportedly been denied an abortion by an Illinois judge since 2013.
The vote to repeal was 32-22, with four Democrats joining the Republican opposition in voting against it and five abstaining from voting at all. The House is also majority Democrat, and Pritzker is a member of the same party, meaning the repeal is likely to pass without issue.
However, the Democrat-run state appears to be looking at the trend against abortion in red states like Texas, which recently passed a controversial law banning abortion and offering a financial bounty to those who rat out anyone who helps a woman secure the procedure. The law, whose implementation the Biden administration tried and failed to block, has become a flashpoint for conflict between the two parties, even as more pressing issues like Covid-19 vaccine mandates have driven a wedge into society.
Even with the loopholes in the existing Illinois law, repeal sponsor State Senator Elgie Sims (D) insisted it had to be done away with in order to "move our state forward to protect our young people, often those who cannot protect themselves."
Republican Senator Jil Tracy framed the repeal as "illogical," calling it an example of the ultra-wealthy Pritzker's "radical agenda" to separate parents and children.
"Of all the human relationships, there's none stronger than a relationship between parent and a child, and certainly while it lasts an entire lifetime, there is no better time and critical event in the minor years that child needs nurturing and support and counseling from their parents," Tracy said at a news conference on Tuesday ahead of the vote.
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