Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – As State Sen Neil Anderson (pictured) (R-Andalusia) journeys toward outlawing abortion in Illinois and bringing back the death penalty for murder – including abortion – he says he has been praying to focus more on God.

“Through this whole thing this past week – I was just telling my wife the other day – I was sitting in bed, it was probably 10:00 at night,” Anderson, his voice shaky, told a statehouse news conference Tuesday. “And I opened my Bible, and I was studying, and it slapped me in the face. It hit me like a ton of bricks. It was God saying, you got what you asked for. You’re focused on Me, aren’t you.”

Advocates say the goal of capital punishment is not to punish people so much as to be a deterrent. That’s how Catherine – who did not want her last name used – views ger own experience.

“If I knew that it was illegal to do what I was choosing to do,” she said, “my child would be here today, and I would not have had three more abortions.”

Supporters of the measure say it’s about equal protection: that the unborn have the same rights as everyone else. Anderson’s measure is getting a cool reception, so much so even among his Republican colleagues that he has resigned his leadership position among Senate Republicans.