Democrats don’t want women to have choice, they want women to have abortions. The latest illustration of this is a new law in Illinois that aims to target pro-life pregnancy centers for using alleged “misinformation” to convince women not to have abortions. A group of pro-life entities is now suing the state.
Pro-life pregnancy centers explain the risks of abortion and offer alternatives, including services to assist women to keep their babies or choose adoption. Such charitable services have repeatedly drawn the ire of radical Democrats, however. The Illinois Deceptive Practices of Limited Services Pregnancy Centers Act prevents the use of “misinformation” to convince women not to use contraception and abortion. Fox News reported July 29 that the law, signed Thursday by Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker, could allow the attorney general’s office to prosecute cases of alleged deception from pregnancy centers and issue up to $50,000 fines.
The problem is, of course, that the definition of “misinformation” is entirely subjective. Democrats have labeled many truths as misinformation — such as saying biological men are men — when pressuring social media companies to censor. This law is not meant to stop lies but to protect abortion. Abortion centers can certainly be deceptive, leading women into thinking that they are not actually killing human babies; but the Illinois governor is not concerned about that.
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Thomas More Society attorneys are now suing Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul to stop enforcement of the law, LifeNews reported. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of multiple Illinois pro-life centers and organizations as well as NIFLA, a national pregnancy help center network. Peter Breen, Thomas More Society Executive Vice President and Head of Litigation (and a former Illinois State Legislator), called the law “a blatant attempt to chill and silence pro-life speech under the guise of ‘consumer protection.’”
Breen continued, “Pregnancy help ministries provide real options and assistance to women and families in need, but instead of the praise they deserve, pro-abortion politicians are targeting these ministries with $50,000 fines and injunctions solely because of their pro-life viewpoint.” LifeNews explained:
The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Western Division, seeks a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction, and permanent injunction against SB 1909 [the anti-pregnancy centers law]. If temporary and preliminary injunctions are granted, they would prevent the law from being enforced while the case makes its way through the court system…
[Illinois] seeks to curtail the speech of pro-life organizations by illegally targeting their efforts to “dissuade pregnant [women] from considering abortion care.” It also faults pro-life organizations for “pay[ing] for advertising… that is intended to attract consumers to their organizations and away from medical providers that offer” abortions.
Breen denied that the pregnancy centers provide information not based on science. He said the new law is “unconstitutional and extremely prejudicial.” The Illinois Attorney General’s Office has been unable to come up with hard evidence of supposed deception from pregnancy centers, LifeNews wrote.
Breen even said “the Attorney General has received zero complaints from members of the public against an Illinois Pregnancy Help Center for alleged violations of the Deceptive Business Practices Act.”
Not only does abortion kill a baby, but women who get abortions are at far greater risk of suicide, depression, mental trauma, and self-harm. Even CBS News covered a British study in 2011 showing abortion put women at greater risk of “psychological disorders” and substance abuse. In 2019, a U.S. study confirmed the link between depression and abortion, even for women with unwanted pregnancies.
Thomas Glessner, President of NIFLA, argued that the Illinois government “overstepped the bounds of any logical and relevant authority by inserting insane partisan politics into their governing bodies and attempting to trample the First Amendment rights of those with whom they disagree.” He added, “This attempt to deny mothers their constitutional right to choose life is disgraceful and should be an embarrassment to the people of Illinois.”
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