An historic event occurred on July 18, 2002.  By unanimous consent, the U.S. Senate passed the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act and sent it to President Bush for signature.  This bill guarantees that any baby born alive, regardless of stage of development or attempted abortion, is afforded full legal rights under Federal law as a citizen of the United States.  

The passage of this legislation has special significance in Illinois.  The testimony of Jill Stanek at multiple Congressional hearings on the bill was crucial in its successful passage.  Jill was a nurse at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, IL when she became aware of the practice of live birth abortion there.  Ultimately, she was fired on August 31, 2001 because of her fight to stop live birth abortion at Christ Hospital. 

Additionally, Jill also testified in Springfield for equivalent Illinois legislation that was sponsored by Senator Patrick O'Malley.  It is most ironic that the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act was acceptable to many U.S. Senators who make no exceptions in their total support of abortion, including our own Senator Richard Durbin, while equivalent legislation was killed in the Illinois House by Speaker Michael Madigan, who assigned the legislation to a hostile committee.

One would expect that these connections to Illinois would motivate meaningful coverage of the passage of the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act.  However, I was not able to find even a small article in your newspaper on the passage of this bill.  Did I miss it?

William Beckman
Executive Director
Illinois Right to Life Committee

 

Note:  This letter was sent to the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Daily Southtown, and Daily Herald because none of them covered this story.