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Letter
from Bishop Sartain
The following letter from Bishop Sartain
was read in all Joliet parishes this past
weekend.
Dear Friends in Christ, I am
taking the extraordinary measure of communicating
with you by letter this weekend because I believe
we are faced with an urgent matter in the Illinois
General Assembly. Several weeks ago we
learned of an extremely troubling bill, HB2354, that would create
the "Reproductive Health and Access Act."
This bill has now passed the House Human Services
Committee and will be debated on the floor.
You may find the full text of the bill on the
internet ( www.ilga.gov) by typing
in "HB2354" in the number search on the left and
then clicking "Full Text" at the top left of the
page which gives a synopsis of the bill.
Why should Catholics and others be
concerned about this bill? There are a
number of critical reasons. The bill
seeks to:
- declare abortion to be a fundamental right
in our state
- pre-empt any existing state restrictions on
abortion or prevent any common-sense regulation
such as parental notification
- expand public funding of abortion through
Medicaid
- mandate comprehensive sex education for all
children in public schools
- invalidate the Illinois Health Care Right of
Conscience Act protecting health care
professionals and employers; in other words, it
would violate the right of conscience of health
care institutions and health care professionals
when it comes to abortion
I feel a responsibility to bring this matter to
your attention so that we will all understand the
broad, immoral implications of this bill. It
is not an exaggeration to say that the bill
threatens our freedom of religion and conscience
in Illinois. Why would I make such a strong
claim?
Section 35 of the bill states, "Individual
health care professionals who object to providing
certain reproductive health care based on religion
or personal conscience may refuse to provide such
services only under the following
conditions..." The conditions set forth
include requiring the "objecting health care
professional" to provide prior written notice of
his or her objection to providing such
services. Our State should be defending our
freedom of religion, not requiring individual
citizens to defend their own right to that freedom
- against state law!
As Francis Cardinal George has written
to his parishioners this weekend, "In our country,
we recognize conscientious objection to war, even
though defending one's country is a noble and
moral act. We recognize the conscientious
objection of those doctors who will not cooperate
in administering the death penalty, even for
terrible crimes. Why do some Illinois
legislators want to take away conscientious
objection to abortion?"
We must work for the defeat of HB2354, and I
urge you to contact your state representative and
let him or her know of your strong opposition to
HB2354. If you do not know your state
representative, visit the Illinois General
Assembly's web site at www.ilga.gov and find the
"Legislator Lookup" link under "Additional
Resources" at the end of the second column.
If you have any problems, call the Catholic
Conference of Illinois at 312-368-1066 for
assistance.
Please join with me in prayer for the defeat of
this disturbing bill and for those who support
it. Don't forget to thank those legislators
who oppose it. Be assured of my daily
prayers for each of you.
Sincerely in Christ,
Bishop J. Peter
Sartain | 
