Contact: Colleen Nolan, 708-371-7810; Karen Hayes, 708-805-7725 cell; both with Concerned Women for America of Illinois
PALOS HEIGHTS, Ill., Oct. 3 /Christian
Newswire/ -- Eighty-three U.S. Congressmen, including
Illinois Congressmen John Shimkus (R-19) and Jerry Costello
(D-12) sent a letter dated September 26, 2008, to U.S.
Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt asking
for information about the dramatic and sudden increase in
Medicare and Medicaid-funded abortions due to rape in
Illinois.
According to a document by the U.S. Health and Human
Services Department, the spike, entirely due to increased
numbers in Illinois alone, rose from 20 in FY2005 to 84 in
FY2006 and 363 in FY2007. Other states show no comparable
increases.
The letter requested specific information about this
puzzling and alarming increase including whether the
abortions were in a particular region or facility in
Illinois, if the criminal rapes were verified, and, if
unlawfully funded, were the funds recovered or are they in
the process of being recovered.
Concerned Women for America (CWA) of Illinois stands with
these honorable Congressmen in requesting this vital
information in light of the disturbing fact that sexual
assault crimes may be involved in these cases in our state.
Concerned Women for America is the nation's largest public policy women's organization.