In a contentious debate over an abortion bill, Rep. Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro) joined a chorus of Republican dissent in the House on Tuesday, calling House Bill 40 representative of the desensitized nature of some views on abortion.
“In its current form, HB40 expands the Medicaid coverage for all abortions at any phase of pregnancy,” Bryant said. “During my lifetime, we have moved from allowing abortions at the first trimester, to allowing abortions in the second trimester, to allowing abortions in the third trimesters, to allowing partial-birth abortions. It’s an ongoing progression that we are becoming desensitized to whether or not a life begins at conception.”
She lamented that the bill, which would allow Medicaid recipients and state employees to use government health insurance to cover abortions, will force taxpayers to pay for the procedure regardless of any opposition.
Currently, Medicaid covers abortion only in extreme cases, such as rape, incest or situations that threaten the mother’s life.
Introduced by Rep. Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago), HB40 would allow coverage for all abortions at any phase. It is meant as a countermeasure in case the U.S. Supreme Court were to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Bryant said citizens shouldn’t be required to pay for other people’s abortions.
Bryant’s beliefs are shared by many fellow Republicans, including Rep. Sheri Jesiel (R-Winthrop Harbor), who expressed similar views that life begins at inception and passing the bill takes away some of Illinois' humanity.
“There are two aspects in this particular bill,” Bryant said. “One really goes to the core of who many of us are that is outside of polling and is outside of what another person can tell me to believe. It goes to the very core of our faith in saying that a life begins at conception, and no one has the right to take that life.”
The other point of contention for Bryant is the allocation of Medicaid funds for the abortion procedures. She argued that the money could be used elsewhere, such as helping those most vulnerable.
“But it also goes to the core of many of our colleague on the other side of the isle who want to be able to use Medicaid money to help the most vulnerable among us,” she said. “When we are going to spend millions and millions of dollars to allow an expansion of Medicaid to fund abortions … then I guess I really just don’t understand how we can say that we care about the most vulnerable among us when we have limited funds, and we are going to be spending money to increase something that is [not only] opposed by many of us but is considered to be an abomination.”
Despite Bryant's call for rejection of the bill, it passed the House on a vote of 62 to 55.
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