Politics
Illinois Democrats Tout Efforts to Protect Abortion Rights, as Push to Amend Constitution Remains in Limbo
Illinois Democrats on Tuesday kicked off the second day of the Democratic National Convention by touting their efforts to protect abortion rights even before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
“As the mother of four daughters that I thought would have more rights than me, not fewer,” Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton said, “I’m devastated to this day that Trump’s Supreme Court found a way to relegate us to second-class citizens.”
For Illinois Treasurer Mike Frerichs, the issue was personal, and he let his anger and some expletives fly, as he talked about using in-vitro fertilization to help conceive his twin sons.
Some anti-abortion activists believe embryos are children and those who destroy them should be held liable for wrongful death. That would have a chilling effect on infertility treatments.
“I call bulls---!” Frerichs said, to loud applause.
But there is no indication that the renewed energy among Democrats around the issue of reproductive rights would translate into a new push to enshrine abortion rights into the Illinois constitution.
Stratton told reporters that all of the party’s efforts must be focused on electing Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz and preventing Republicans from adopting a national ban on abortion.
“There is a lot more work that we need to do,” Stratton said, calling Illinois a “blueprint” for other states to work to protect abortion rights and gender-affirming care.
While Gov. J.B. Pritzker has expanded access to abortion several times since taking office in 2018, those laws can be repealed or changed by future governors and lawmakers.
“Look at what we have done here in Illinois, we are on the national stage because of exactly what we have done in Illinois,” Stratton said. “We have protected reproductive freedom, we have become a safe haven for women all across the country. We’re going to keep pushing for this and we need Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the office in the White House.”
For a proposed amendment to be adopted, Illinois voters must approve it with a three-fifths majority of those voting on the amendment question or a simple majority of all votes that were cast in the election.
Guaranteeing access to abortions will be on the ballot in a handful of states, including Florida and Missouri.
In January 2023, Pritzker said Illinois needed to amend its constitution to protect abortion rights.
“The right to privacy and bodily autonomy demand that we establish a constitutional protection for reproductive rights in Illinois,” Pritzker said. “The extremists still want to take away a woman’s right to choose, and I don’t intend to let them. That’s why yet again, on women’s rights, Illinois will lead.”
The Reproductive Health Act, signed in 2019 by Pritzker and expanded in 2023, “sets forth the fundamental rights of individuals to make autonomous decisions about one’s own reproductive health, including the fundamental right to use or refuse reproductive health care.”
The act explicitly protects assisted reproductive technology, shields patients from out-of-state laws and mandates insurance coverage for abortion care and birth control.
WTTW News’ Amanda Vinicky contributed to this report.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
