Illinois will proceed to be a haven for these looking for abortions as different states limit entry to the process after the U.S. Supreme Courtroom’s anticipated ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, Gov. J.B. Pritzker mentioned.
Pritzker and different state officers visited Deliberate Parenthood in Fairview Heights on Might 11, 2022 to announce they need to increase abortion providers. Illinois would shield the suitable to an abortion, he assured sufferers.
“Since 2015, the variety of out-of-state sufferers coming to Illinois to make their very own selections about whether or not, the place and how one can be a mum or dad has tripled, and with out motion from Congress it’s set to soar,” he mentioned. “Let me be clear on this: Illinois is a pro-choice state, and so long as I’m governor and we retain a pro-choice legislature, we’ll assist each girl’s proper to reproductive freedom.”
Pritzker’s message comes per week after Politico revealed a draft majority opinion by the Supreme Courtroom that might overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion. The court docket’s official determination may come later this yr.
Missouri, Kentucky and different close by states have legal guidelines that might prohibit the process as quickly as judges rule towards the 1973 determination. The state is an island of entry, surrounded by states the place Republican legislatures have for years been proscribing who and the way an individual can receive an abortion, Pritzker mentioned.
Near three-quarters of the sufferers on the Fairview Heights clinic are from out of state, Pritzker mentioned. Sufferers come from as distant as Texas, the place a brand new regulation permits personal residents to take authorized motion towards those that help anybody looking for an abortion.
Pritzker expects tens of 1000’s extra new sufferers to come back to Illinois from different states every year if the Supreme Courtroom formally overturns Roe v. Wade, which might enable state legislatures to go particular person abortion bans.
That interprets to a predicted 14,000 new sufferers coming to Deliberate Parenthood’s Metro East location, mentioned Yamelsie Rodriguez, president of Deliberate Parenthood of the St. Louis Area and Southwest Missouri.
“In Illinois, we’ve got been making ready for the day Roe falls, and we’re prepared,” she mentioned.
Rodriguez and Pritzker urged U.S. senators to go the Girls’s Well being Safety Act, a invoice sponsored by Democrats that might codify the suitable to an abortion nationwide. Senators are scheduled to vote on the invoice at the moment, however analysts say it’s unlikely to go, as Democrats wouldn’t have the votes.
Pritzker additionally referred to as for state regulators to permit nurse practitioners to carry out abortions, which he mentioned would assist with the inevitable backlog of sufferers coming to the state sooner or later.
“We’d like reproductive providers of all types accessible to girls,” he mentioned. “And extra accessible now, as a result of we little doubt are going to see many extra girls who’re looking for a spot of refuge to train their rights.”
Abortion-rights advocates have been planning for the day Roe v. Wade could be overturned for years, Rodriguez mentioned.
To organize, Deliberate Parenthood has opened a name heart within the Metro East to help sufferers coming to Illinois and join them to the Midwest Entry Coalition and different teams elevating cash to fund abortions and associated bills like lodging and journey.
“We had been indignant, and we had been shocked, we had been additionally not fully greatly surprised,” Rodriguez mentioned. “That is what we have been sounding the alarms for for a very long time.”
