Galesburg Reporter

Republican state Sen. Jil Tracy is blasting legislation that seeks to repeal a law requiring that a parent or guardian be notified at least 48 hours in advance when a minor 17 or younger seeks an abortion as “illogical.”

At a press conference earlier this month, Tracy argued Democrats need to be consistent when it comes to the legislation they put forward in the name of protecting young people.

“The majority party has passed legislation to protect minors, just recently we've protected criminal juvenile activity through recognizing that their young brains haven't fully formed, that they're immature, that their actions need counseling and support,” she said an Oct. 19 press conference on the Parental Notice of Abortion Act (PNA) of 1995 and the recent push to repel it. “We passed a law through the Democrat majority to raise the smoking age to 21 because young minds don't have the critical thinking as we were told to make these necessary decisions. And that's why I called this bill illogical.”

Tracy pointed out that a parent’s consent is needed for something as simple as a teacher being able to give a student an aspirin.

“Why would we think it would be a good idea to not involve a parent to be notified when a child is looking at a major medical procedure that will affect them for the rest of their lives?” she added. “The parents need to be involved in helping form that decision and dealing with the aftereffects. We recognize minors need their parents and so we're urging the majority party not to call this bill.”

In Springfield, the abortion debate has been reawakened ever since lawmakers in Texas moved to enact a law that bans most abortions, according to ABC7, with abortion-rights advocates in the General Assembly zeroing in on what many view as the last restriction on access here in Illinois.

The Texas law directly bans most abortions after a cardiac activity is detected, which typically comes at about six weeks following conception. In just over a month, the U.S. Supreme Court is also poised to hear arguments on the merits of a Mississippi law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks.

With Gov. J.B. Pritzker having recently come out in favor of repealing PNA, ABC7 reported, Tracy is urging parents across the state to make sure they’re heard on the issue.

“We support the existing bill as it is and we're asking the public for their support to help us hear how they feel about it,” she added. “I've heard in my office over and over from parents over the years about this assault on their rights with their children and so we're asking again for their support to help us make that case be made again.”

First adopted in 1995, the PNA law officially took effect in 2013 after nearly two decades of judicial challenges. According to Illinois Department of Health statistics, since then the number of abortions among minors has dropped 38%, to 1,092 in 2018, while abortions overall among Illinois residents remained steady, according to ABC7.