Father Martin T. Marren couldn’t say for certain if Rep. Kelly Burke (D-Evergreen Park) is a member of his Southwest Side parish, but he left little doubt about what he thinks would be the right stance for any lawmaker to take on a pair of abortion bills now pending in the state legislature.
“I’m deeply troubled by these bills,” Marren told South Cook News. “The church would have a serious problem with any bill that makes abortion okay. I think they are terrible bills, just like the bill (HB 40) that made state funding for abortions legal.”
Meanwhile, Burke, a Catholic Democrat whose district includes Queen of Martyrs, hasn’t been nearly as clear in articulating her position. Now in her eighth year of serving as the face of the district, she has publicly refused to say how she plans to vote on legislation Gov. J.B. Pritzker has already vowed to sign off on if it ever makes its way to his desk.
“It’s safe to say the parish would have serious issues with that,” Marren added. “We do not believe that would be a good thing.”
Dubbed “the most extreme piece of abortion legislation that has ever been introduced in Illinois” by the Thomas More Society, House Bill 2495, Senate Bill 1942, would make partial-birth abortions legal and allow abortion for all nine months of pregnancy for any reason. The bill also stipulates that all health insurance policies include abortion coverage and paves the way for non-doctors to perform abortion procedures.
Meanwhile, HB 2467 or SB 1594 would repeal the more than two decades-old Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act of 1995, which presently requires that an adult family member be notified prior to an abortion being performed on a minor in the state.
Burke ran unopposed in the 36th District in November’s general election and is seated through 2021.
Alerts Sign-up