AFN recently reported that Senate President Don Harmon (D) had introduced an amendment that would expand abortion in five ways. In a veto session this week, David Smith of the Illinois Family Institute says the state House and Senate in one day passed the comprehensive measure.
The amendment to HB 4664 allows, among other things, non-doctors, including midwives, to perform abortions. It also allows for medical personnel who have lost their medical licenses in other states for maybe performing illegal abortions to "come on over to Illinois. We'll let you kill babies over here."
Additionally, no longer will an abortionist who kills a pregnant woman in a botched procedure face punishment, even if the woman's family files a lawsuit. Smith finds that especially ironic.
![Smith, David (Illinois Family Institute)](/media/4dhhfxzv/davidsmith.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=85&height=125&rnd=133670691621030000&format=png)
"Our criminal law here in Illinois still says that a murderer can be held accountable for the death of a mother and an unborn baby," he notes. "So if it's done through a crime, well then, you can get punished -- and rightfully so -- for the murder of two. But if you accidentally murder a woman in commission of a murder of an unborn baby, well then, you're okay."
The bill further requires that insurance companies cover chemical abortions as well as medical treatments for individuals who suffer gender dysphoria, believing they were born in the wrong body.
Two items not included in the amendment are language that directly attacked pregnancy resource centers and sidewalk counselors and language allocating taxpayer funding to abortions performed on women who are not from Illinois.