It feels like we just stepped into a new era. Not the one we were hoping for, but a new era nonetheless. The morning after November 3, it was apparent that Americans had put far-left Democrats back into power in Congress. Socialists won high-profile races. Far-left Democrats even took conservative, red territory like it was nothing.

And here at the state level, it was just as telling. The party that can’t define a woman, thinks boys can become girls, and legislates against the traditional family ad nauseam expanded its supermajorities by six seats in the Illinois House and six in the Illinois Senate. Quite a spectacle. God help us.

But that’s exactly what keeps us going. God is still on the throne. God is still in control. God’s ways are not our ways. We just have to continue to be faithful. It’s not going to be easy, but God never said it would be. In fact, just the opposite. We must love God and love our neighbor through thick and thin.

What’s next?

Veto Session starts on November 17. It is a six-day session which will likely tackle a couple of major issues – a package aimed at keeping the Bears in Illinois and regulations for data centers regarding energy use and other things. But then the legislature will break for the holidays and come back in January for a new legislative session.

I will be hearing more about far-left, anti-family legislation being drafted in the weeks ahead. However, I’d like to mention three fights shaping up on different timetables. The immediate one is over whether schools need a parent’s written permission to screen a child for mental health concerns. Then, looking into the next General Assembly, I expect decriminalizing prostitution and outlawing the “abortion-reversal pill” to be major pushes from the progressive wing.

School Mental Health Screenings

In August 2026, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) quietly put out its guidance for school districts to implement mental  health screenings for children in grades 3-12 beginning in the 2027-28 school year. (ISBE Non-Regulatory Guidance for School Districts)

On October 30, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education told ISBE to revise its school mental health screening guidance by Friday, November 13. As currently written, federal officials said the guidance could lead districts to violate two federal laws governing parental consent and access to student records. The feds demanded revisions, with possible enforcement to follow. Here’s what’s at issue:

1) Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA), 20 U.S.C. § 1232h

ISBE is calling them guidelines and these guidelines allow the districts to choose between opt-out and written opt-in, with advice from their lawyers. However, federal law requires prior written parental consent before a minor is required to take a survey or evaluation that reveals protected information, including mental or psychological problems. Under PPRA, the U.S. Department of Education says covered surveys administered by teachers, counselors or other school officials require written parental opt-in permission. Under that interpretation, sending home a notice and screening the child, unless a parent objects, is insufficient.

2) Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), 20 U.S.C. § 1232g

ISBE says screening results generally fall outside the student’s permanent record, and they recommend that districts evaluate whether to keep them as temporary records. (This raises the question as to why they’re screening in the first place.) Federal officials clearly see the problem with this and warn that districts could use separate temporary files to deny parents access to the student’s records. Under FERPA, any test result directly related to a student and maintained by the school or someone acting on its behalf generally qualifies as an education record, whether it is filed as temporary or permanent. Therefore, parents have the right to inspect it and seek correction under FERPA.

So those are the two issues:

a) U.S. Department of Education officials say schools must obtain prior written parental consent when screeners probe a student’s mental or emotional state;

b) they also raised concerns about parents’ access to records under federal student privacy law. Again, the State Board of Education faces a November 13 deadline to respond.

We’ll be watching how Illinois responds and what the screening tools actually ask. Parents should be able to review the questions, give written permission before their child undergoes a screening, and have access to the results. I’ll also be looking closely at any questions about sexuality or gender and how schools would interpret a child’s answers. A child’s disagreement with far-left views on those subjects should never be treated as a mental health symptom.

Going for the trifecta?

Illinois has legalized gambling and marijuana, so I look for the third leg of that stool, prostitution decriminalization, to be attempted next. Actually, legislation to decriminalize prostitution was introduced a couple of years ago (HB 3518 and SB 2391).  Those bills didn’t go anywhere, but that is how gambling and marijuana started when they were introduced. The “decriminalize prostitution” movement now has many Democrat sponsors and cheerleaders.

The playbook on passing this sinful stuff is, first and foremost, about more tax revenue, fewer criminal penalties, and more safety for sex workers. You will hear a lot about safety because the government would be “regulating and protecting” the sex industry workers. What you will not hear about from proponents is that this is an offense to God. Nor will you hear about helping women get out of prostitution and holding exploiters accountable.

Far-left alarmed at “abortion-reversal pills’ success

The far-left is alarmed. Many women are changing their minds about having a chemical abortion and looking to save their children after all. That is indeed unacceptable to promoters of the culture of death. So IFI does expect to see legislation next spring outlawing life-saving pills that reverse abortion.

Here’s what’s happening: A girl or woman receives two abortion pills in the mail. She takes the mifepristone, the first abortion pill. She regrets her decision and decides she wants to give the baby life. She doesn’t take the second abortion pill, misoprostol. Instead, she obtains a prescription for a progesterone pill, or “abortion reversal pill.” This fights off the mifepristone in order to sustain the pregnancy. It is saving many lives and sparing many women the psychological trauma of abortion.

To outlaw the abortion-reversal pill, the far-left will be attacking its “safety,” which will be a great irony, of course, because abortion pills are the epitome of harmfulness for women and their babies. I can guarantee the following will be the pitch from the far-left:

‘These unproven drugs are harmful to women; they need to be studied more before they are allowed to be used; and women are being duped by pro-lifers to take these pills against their will.’

Your prayers and voices are needed more than ever.