Illinois recently introduced a new bill that would change the definition of “abused child” to include minors whose parents are in opposition to their children receiving puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, transgender surgeries, and abortions.
House Bill 4876 also protects doctors from liability if they prescribe those types of treatments outside of parental consent and authorizes the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) to intervene and potentially remove children from their biological parents under the new definition of an “abused child.”
“The State of Illinois wants to change the term of ‘abused child’ to mean any child whose parents won’t agree to a sex change,” Billboard Chris wrote on X (the website formerly known as Twitter).
The bill, which provides minors the same legal status as adults regarding consent to medical treatments and procedures related to abortion and gender transition, states that “consent to the performance of abortion services and gender-affirming services executed by a minor is not voidable because of such minority.”
As reported by The Daily Wire, doctors who prescribe and perform these types of treatments and procedures are guided to ensure that minors in question have an understanding of what is being prescribed to them.
“A health care professional rendering abortion services and gender-affirming services shall not incur civil or criminal liability for failure to obtain valid consent or professional discipline for failure to obtain valid consent if the health care professional relied in good faith on representations made by the minor,” the bill states.
Additionally, parents could be in trouble if DCFS discovers any kind of abuse allegations to be warranted: Illinois law currently classifies child abuse — based upon the nature and severity of the abuse — as a criminal offense ranging from a misdemeanor that carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a $2,500 fine to a felony that can carry up to $25,000 in fines and 15 years behind bars.
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Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for Christian Headlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.