It’s been 48 hours since 4,000 pro-lifers descended on the Illinois State Capitol – ultimately shutting it down for bringing the building to max capacity – and Chicago papers have hardly acknowledged the event ever took place.
The crowd gathered for a rally to oppose two bills – HB2467 and HB2495 – that attempt to repeal Illinois’ parental notification law and lift the Illinois ban on late term abortions (in addition to wiping the law of all other abortion regulations, which extremists call “getting rid of the bad stuff”).
But don’t call it an aversion to the topic in general. On Thursday evening, one day after the event attracted historic crowds and three days after the senate version of the parental notification repeal was passed through committee, the Chicago Tribune posted a column by Eric Zorn, titled: “No, a pregnant teen who wants an abortion should not be forced to tell her parents.”
Hm.
Zorn’s column is a regurgitation of ACLU talking points and an excellent showcase of the no-holds-barred approach that Illinois has taken to the abortion issue for far too long.
These shameless demands that a girl as young as 12 years old have access to abortion services without her parents’ knowledge (parental consent isn’t even on the table here) are taking the issue too far, but Chicago papers can’t be relied upon to paint a balanced picture. Instead of reporting on actual events – like a crowd the size of Hardin County gathering a few dozen feet from the offices of every legislator in the state – they’re printing columns that are practically a Personal PAC fundraising email.
The mere suggestion of this legislation is leaving a bitter taste in the mouths of ballot-casting adults across the state. Not to mention the thousands who are so outraged, they drove down to Springfield on a Wednesday… but if you live in the Chicago media market, you wouldn’t have read about that.
– written by Illinois Right to Life Executive Director, Mary Kate Knorr. You can follow Mary Kate on Facebook here.