In Illinois, Even Your Health Choices Are No Longer Private

If you ask a progressive, everything is political now. Every opinion, the books you read, the food you eat, the way you choose to educate your kids, what car you drive… none of it is neutral anymore.

And now, for leftist members of the Illinois House, what you believe and say about health could land you in jail or leave you facing fines. Illinois continues its descent into dystopia.

Thursday morning, the Public Health Committee held a hearing on HB 4596, known as the “Combating Health Misinformation Act,” which is just as Orwellian as it sounds. We’ll just cover a few highlights here. The act will:

1.) Use taxpayer dollars to fund “public health literacy” grants

2.) Recruit and train “trusted messengers” (local health professionals and community leaders) to communicate “accurate” health information

3.) Require entities that distribute information on health to “disclose funding resources, as well as to provide citations for alleged facts”

4.) Use the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Practices Act (already weaponized against pregnancy resources centers!) to bring civil or criminal penalties against entities that “knowingly violate” the act

5.) Require “health literacy” to be taught to public school students as part of their health education

The Constitutional red flags on this bill can be seen from outer space, so instead of discussing why it’s a terrible piece of legislation, let’s consider how we got here. Of course, the pandemic offered some foreshadowing. We can all recall how viewpoints opposed to the favored, government-approved public health voices were framed as stupid at best and evil at worst.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to urge your state representative to oppose HB 4596 and the creation of a government “Health Misinformation Response Unit.” Our state government should not enact laws limiting speech — especially on controversial and highly debated medical issues. Moreover, the possibility of partisans weaponizing a so-called “response unit” is chilling.

Background

Six years on, most people have tried to leave that dark period behind, but Illinois Democrats got a taste of being a surveillance state, and they want to make that status permanent. With the shift from the Biden White House to Trump 2.0, leftists all over the nation have dug in their heels, finding new and creative ways to rebel against federal law.

For instance, Governor Pritzker has stated he will ignore the FDA and HHS, opting instead to abide by the globalist World Health Organization guidelines.

HB 4596 makes it crystal clear that Democrats do not believe in or trust the marketplace of ideas to do what it does best when allowed to function freely. Bad ideas (or bad health information) can be overcome by better ideas, but they would rather simply silence or coerce speech. Even more, Dems want to function as your parent and filter what information you receive, because they don’t believe you’re smart enough to decide what information is true or false.

Sponsor Dave Vella (D-Loves Park) describes HB 4596 as “empowering,” but the only party being strengthened by it is Big Brother. Think just for a moment about what and who will be impacted if this bill is signed into law: pregnancy resource centers and abortion pill reversal services, physicians and others who suggest spacing, delaying, or refusing vaccines, home birth advocates, holistic health care providers … just name a few.

The text of the bill brings up more questions than answers:

1.) Will this eventually expand to include anyone who shares disfavored information? What about a mom with 350 Instagram followers? A soccer coach? A midwife?

2.) Will we see “rationing” of care or refusal to care for someone if they have accessed alternative medicine before seeking acute care?

3.) Who decides what the “health literacy” curriculum teaches? Can parents opt their children out?

No doubt this bill will face an uphill climb, including lawsuits if it is signed into law, but regardless, we must consider the environment that has allowed it to even make it into committee. Is it ignorance? Is it malicious intent? It most certainly is hubris fueled by an absolute lack of understanding or, worse, a flat-out hatred of the Constitution and the First Amendment.

You cannot legislate thought. And you certainly cannot compel or silence speech just because you disagree with it. This is what separates the USA from authoritarian nations and theocracies (a worthy comparison since the Left adheres to a kind of godless “religion” of thought).

This isn’t stopping Illinois politicians from seeing if they can extend the reach of their thought police just a little further.

We’ve already raised the alarm on this, and we’ll continue doing so, because this is just one more way the supermajority in Springfield want to extend their reach and make sure we all stay in line.

Take ACTION: Please click HERE to email your state representative to OPPOSE HB 4596.