House approves new abortion protection, plan to ease college admissions
[April 09, 2025]
By Ben Szalinski, Jade Aubrey
SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois House took its first step Monday in passing
legislation responding to proposed actions by the Trump administration.
The House voted 67-39 to advance House Bill 3637, which would put new
protections in state law to safeguard health care licenses for providers
who offer abortion cares. It also guarantees continued access to
abortion medication even if the medication’s approval is rescinded by
the federal Food and Drug Administration.
“We know that Project 2025 has called for the revoking of the FDA
approval for medication abortion drugs, and we cannot wait to react
after the fact,” Rep. Dagmara Avelar, D-Romeoville, said.
Under the bill, if the FDA ends approval for a drug, health care
providers in Illinois will be allowed to continue providing the
medication so long as the World Health Organization recommends it.
Democrats fear the Trump administration may take action that makes
critical medications, including those for abortion, inaccessible.
The WHO has “experienced health care providers as well so I’m confident
on what they put out with regards to safety of drugs,” Avelar said.
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled last year that a group suing to
revoke FDA authorization for an abortion drug lacked standing.
Rep. Bill Hauter, R-Morton, argued the legislation sets a dangerous
precedent for health care regulation.
“There has to be some safety mechanisms, whether they be in the abortion
clinic or with abortion medications,” Hauter said. “Do not reject the
authority of the U.S. federal Food and Drug Administration. This is an
important safety mechanism. This is unprecedented in my mind.”
Pritzker’s direct college admission plan
The House voted 102-2 on Monday to advance House Bill 3522, which would
create a direct admission program that applies students for admission at
most Illinois public colleges and universities at once, bypassing
college application fees.
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and University of Illinois
Chicago would not be included in the program.
The plan was proposed by Gov. JB Pritzker.
Students would have to “opt-in” to take part in the program and provide
their contact information and GPAs to the Illinois Student Assistance
Commission. The commission would then apply admission criteria from each
university to find out at which universities the student qualifies for
admission.
No coverage caps on general anesthesia
Hauter also is the sponsor of HB1141, which unanimously passed the House
floor Monday. The bill would require all private insurance companies to
cover the costs of medically necessary general anesthesia for the entire
duration of a patient’s medical procedure.
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Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, presents a bill in the Illinois
House on Monday, April 7, 2025. (Capitol News Illinois photo by
Peter Hancock)
“Patients have no control over the length of their surgery,” he said.
“Physiologists have no control, or little control, and surgeons
oftentimes have no control when they run into complications, abnormal
anatomy or even malfunctioning equipment.”
The bill would ensure insurance companies can’t deny lengthy coverage in
Illinois and continue the state’s status quo, Hauter said.
Blue Cross Blue Shield recently threatened to set a cap on the duration
of medically necessary anesthesia in Missouri, New York and Connecticut
in late 2024. After receiving nationwide backlash on the decision, the
company changed course and never set a cap.
Student teacher stipend bill approved
A bill passed through the House Monday on a 78-23 vote that would allow
student teachers to receive a stipend.
Student teaching is part of the requirements for a teaching license in
Illinois.
The proposal passed the House in 2024 but didn’t become law.
The bill states eligible student teachers can be given “up to $10,000
per semester for two semesters” in educator preparation programs.
Licensed cooperating teachers at public schools or early childhood
education centers could separately get $2,000 per semester.
“We are in a dire situation, and we need teachers,” Rep. Katie Stuart,
D-Edwardsville, said Monday on the House floor. “This is a barrier for
those seeking licensure. It’s an expensive barrier to have to do your
student teaching completely unpaid. This goes back to the history of the
sexist nature of the fact that teachers tend to be overwhelmingly
female.”
The bill’s main sponsor, Rep. Barbara Hernandez, D-Aurora, said she’s
aiming to get $10 million appropriated from the budget for this bill,
but she’d prefer around $60 million.
In 2024, Hernandez pushed for a $68 million appropriation for the
proposal but admitted at the time the bill was unlikely to receive that
funding.
Rep. Fred Crespo, D-Hoffman Estates, warned that Pritzker said budget
negotiations were going to be strict this year.
“You can ask for everything, you can’t have it all,” Crespo said. “We
need to start prioritizing what we want; and at the end of the day,
taxpayers are going to pay for this. And at this rate, we’re just going
to run out of taxpayers’ dollars to spend.”
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