SOUTH HOLLAND – Wednesday, State Rep. Thaddeus Jones (D-Calumet City) asked 29th House District constituents to post on his Facebook page their thoughts about a bill that would add abortion to Illinoisans' tax bills.
Up until now, Illinois has respected religious citizens' beliefs and not used their tax dollars to pay for abortions, except for medical, rape and incest causes.
All that would change with the passage of HB 40, as Rep. Jones responded to one of his commenters:
"The new bill would be for any reason," he wrote.
The comments appearing on his Facebook page represent both sides of the issue, but more against the bill than for it.
Babette Holder, co-founder of the Illinois chapter of the Frederick Douglass Foundation, reviewed Jones' public Facebook thread and was hopeful that he was gaining insight through his commenters.
"One wonders if Rep. Jones should have further conversations with the state reps that oppose HB 40 for more insight as to why they oppose the bill," she said, "or does Rep. Jones know if those in his district really understand the impact of the costs associated with this bill, as well as the full nature of HB40's potential to be used as birth control in some instances? "
If HB 40 were to pass a close vote in the Illinois House, it would easily pass the more Left-leaning Illinois Senate and land on Governor Rauner's desk. The governor refuses to indicate publicly or privately what he would do if the bill were to land on his desk.
Illinois Review is being told that the governor refuses to meet with prolife lawmakers to hear their concerns and indicate whether he would sign the bill into law. The Democrats want the governor to be faced with the dilemma.
Those opposed to HB 40 breathed a sign of relief Wednesday – International Women's Day – when the measure wasn't called for a vote. However, those close to the count say the vote would be very close.
I emailed my state rep., Carol Sente, and I asked her to vote against that bill. I didn’t get a response from her.