The ACLU of Illinois alongside Illinois Sen. Heather Steans (D-Chicago) and other activists came together to stop a bill in the Illinois Senate last week that would have permitted adoption agencies with religious affiliations to discriminate against prospective parents, according to an article in www.nowingaychicago.com Monday.

“It was a nasty bill,” Steans said.

ACLU Legislative Director Mary Dixon was one of the activists that alerted Steans of the damaging bill, causing the lawmaker to forcefully block SB 1993 when it came up before the Illinois Senate Human Services Committee. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Shane Cultra (R-Onarga), lost on a 4-4 vote, with one member not voting.

“It was really disturbing,” Dixon said. “The goal was to codify discrimination into law.”

According to the article, agencies connected with religious groups frequently offer adoption and foster services, and the religious preferences of the biological mother, if known, are taken into consideration when children are placed into homes. Cultra's bill provided that an agency could choose to place children with parents deemed to “hold the same religious beliefs” as the agency, excluding others.

“That's religious discrimination,” Dixon said. “That's not allowed under our constitution.”

Executive Director Colleen Connell submitted written testimony to the House Agriculture Committee on Tuesday in opposition to House Bill 3156. She writes:

There can be no purpose in upending the existing system of regulation other than to seek to impose the same unconstitutional burdens on the fundamental right to terminate pregnancy that led the federal courts to enjoin the ASTC Act and regulations in Ragsdale v. Turnock. We urge you to let science dictate and avoid the unnecessary cost to the State of Illinois of further litigation about regulatory requirements long found to impose a substantial burden with no medical justifications. We urge you to vote NO on House Bill 3156.

Download a copy of the whole thing. 

Ms. Magazine has some great coverage of our Women are not Livestock Rally in Springfield:

Abortion-rights activists attended the Committee vote wearing shirts and buttons saying, "Women are not livestock." Colleen Connell, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Illinois, clarified, "The voters of Illinois do not endorse this radical agenda. Voters recently rejected a gubernatorial candidate with a solid, anti-abortion record because they want the state's leadership to focus on fixing the budget and creating jobs."

Read the whole thing!
Missed the fun in Springfield? Join us Wednesday, March 23rd for a rally in Naperville, home of the chief sponsor of the anti-abortion legislation.