South Cook News

Illinois State Rep. Diane Pappas (D-Itasca) suggested castration and sperm bank storage as a solution to the growing number of abortions in Illinois to a small pro-life coalition from Wayne Township earlier this month.

The meeting between Pappas and the local Wayne Township parish members was supposed to be to discuss the House Bill 2495 and to give the group a chance to share its point of view on the controversial abortion legislation. Introduced in February, the bill known as the Reproductive Health Act states "that every individual has a fundamental right to make autonomous decisions about one's own reproductive health. [The act] Provides that every individual who becomes pregnant has a fundamental right to continue the pregnancy and give birth or to have an abortion, and to make autonomous decisions about how to exercise that right." 

A recent Op-Ed in the DuPage Policy Journal revealed that Rep. Pappas told the parish group shortly after their introduction, "You know ladies, with technology the way it is, we wouldn't have an abortion problem if we applied a plan. Now, I've been told it's a bit radical, but if we allowed men to be castrated, took the sperm to the bank, collected tax dollars on it for storage, then when it's time, to have the man decide he's ready to begin a family . . . well, then the problem is solved."

Illinois State House Rep. Diane Pappas (D-Itasca) | facebook.com/DianeForStateRep

The parish group came away from the meeting unsatisfied that their opposition to House Bill 2495 was heard, and disappointed that Pappas indicated she was not going to change her position on the Democratic-sponsored legislation. South Cook News tried to reach out to State Rep. Mary Flowers (D-Chicago) for reaction to her colleague's "radical plan," but she declined to comment on Pappas' statement.