A bill inspired by the pro-life group Americans United for Life would expand the definition of who is a “mandatory reporter” of suspected sexual abuse to include everyone inside an abortion clinic – not just the abortion practitioner and nurse.
However, abortion advocates are opposed to the legislation to protect minor girls.
AUL tells LifeNews.com the measure “provides the maximum amount of protection for children who may be undergoing sexual abuse and are being taken to an abortion clinic by a predator.”
After initially opposing the bill, the Illinois Choice Action Team changed course in an email to supporters, saying, “In response to comments, feedback, and our own concerns regarding bill 2093, we at the Illinois Choice Action Team have removed our name from the Reproductive Health and Access Act coalition of opposing organizations for Illinois House bill 2093. We understand the bill context however, when it comes to the issue of reporting child abuse we would rather any case seen be reported and so we are withdrawing our name.”
However, Planned Parenthood and the ACLU still oppose the measure and Planned Parenthood’s website includes the following statement in a form letter their supporters can send to legislators making it clear they are more concerned about overburdening government than protecting minor girls:
HB 2093 requires office staff and volunteers of organizations that provide reproductive health care or sex education to be mandated reporters of child abuse. All doctors, nurses and teachers are already mandated reporters. Therefore, these organizations are already legally required to make reports. This bill creates redundant regulations that have the potential to overload the Department of Children and Family Services.
The ACLU issued a statement on Monday opposing the reporting legislation, saying it is to “eliminate meaningful access to abortion services in Illinois and increase regulatory costs in the state.”
Colleen Connell, the executive director of the pro-abortion legal group, said, “The voters of Illinois do not endorse this radical agenda.” She went on to condemn the statutory rape reporting bill saying it would “add unnecessary governmental regulations on reproductive health care providers and women seeking to terminate a pregnancy.”
The ACLU director admitted the bill “expands mandated reporting of child abuse” but opposes it because it is supposedly “creating cumbersome and unnecessary bureaucracy and training requirements for non-profit organizations and diverting time and money from patient care.”
The bill “must be defeated,” Connell concluded.
AUL Vice President of Government Affairs Dan McConchie has been coordinating the effort in several states to protect children from those who prey on them and he talked about the opposition from pro-abortion groups to the mandatory reporting bill.
“It’s hard to image anything worse than not reporting suspected sexual abuse of minors. But arguing that the government might get overloaded with requests to protect our kids is just incredible. Government should be about the business of keeping children safe from predators,” he said.
Planned Parenthood has a history of covering up cases of sexual abuse in various states such as Wisconsin, California, Indiana, Arizona, Tennessee, and Alabama.
