Bishop George J. Lucas has joined the bishops of Illinois in urging Catholics to call their state representatives with a simple message: “Vote NO on House Bill 2354.”

HB 2354, the Reproductive Health and Access Act, passed the House Human Services Committee on March 11. The bill will now head to the Illinois House floor for consideration of the entire body.

Bishop George J. Lucas has joined the bishops of Illinois in urging Catholics to call their state representatives with a simple message: “Vote NO on House Bill 2354.”

HB 2354, the Reproductive Health and Access Act, passed the House Human Services Committee on March 11. The bill will now head to the Illinois House floor for consideration of the entire body.

The bill, according to the Catholic Conference of Illinois is “extreme.”

“It declares abortion to be a fundamental right and it invalidates a health care professional’s right of conscience,” said a March 16 alert from the Catholic Conference.

According to the Catholic Conference, HB 2354 seeks to:

• make abortion a fundamental right, preventing any common-sense regulation such as parental notification;

• expand public funding of abortion through Medicaid during a time when the state cannot meet its current fiscal obligations;

• invalidate the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act protecting health care professionals and employers; and,

• mandate comprehensive sex education for all children in public schools.

“Unfortunately we have had to live with the fact that our laws no longer protect unborn human life. We cannot live with the prospect that our laws will no longer protect conscience,” Bishop Lucas wrote in a letter to be inserted in parish bulletins during the weekend of March 21-22.

Bishop Lucas is asking that Catholics in the Springfield diocese contact their state representatives and ask them to vote “No” on HB 2354. To find out how to contact state representatives, or to find out who your representative is, visit the Illinois General Assembly’s Web site a www.ilga.gov or call (312) 368-1066.

For the full text of Bishop Lucas’ letter to Catholics about HB 2354, click here .