Representative Avery Bourne of Raymond, Illinois, 34 weeks pregnant herself, gave an impassioned pro-life speech against the newly passed Illinois abortion law on the Illinois congressional floor. The abortion rights issue has recently risen to the forefront of national and Illinois politics.
The Illinois House of Representatives voted to pass a new abortion law that would remove almost all abortion restrictions at the end of May. Representative Kelly Cassidy’s Reproductive Health Act will remove 45-year-old limits on abortion. Some late-term abortions will now be legalized. Criminal penalties for doctors performing abortions will also be removed. Illinois’ new abortion law will make Illinois the state with the least restriction on abortion.
States Have Been Enacting Abortion Laws in a National Trend
Blue states like Illinois have been expanding abortion rights while red states like Alabama and Georgia have been restricting abortion rights. Georgia recently passed a law restricting abortions as early as six weeks into the pregnancy. Kentucky, Mississippi, and Ohio have also approved abortion bans once a heartbeat is detected.
At least six states have adopted laws restricting abortion, including Missouri, which will limit abortions before the eighth week of pregnancy. On the other hand, democratic states such as Nevada, New York, and Vermont have made efforts to strengthen abortion rights.
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of an Indiana law that required abortion clinics to cremate or bury the remains of aborted fetuses rather than sell them. Colleen Connell, who is the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois argued that there are currently “many court cases that could “significantly erode” the 1973 court case of Roe v. Wade.
What Does the Illinois Abortion Law Change?
The SB 25 law maintains the main elements of the Reproductive Health Act (HB 2495) and in effect, repeals the Illinois Parental Notification Act (HB 2467). The law creates a new fundamental right to abortion, including a right to late-term abortion.
This new fundamental right trumps all other Illinois laws and policies regarding abortion. It restricts any state action that would “deny, restrict, interfere with or discriminate against any individual’s exercise” of the fundamental right to abortion. It also makes it more challenging to define a fetus as viable while broadening the meaning of “health of the patient” to make it easier to obtain an abortion.
The new Illinois abortion law also forces private insurance companies to cover abortions and jeopardizes the enforcement of the Parental Notice of Abortion Act. It is unclear whether Illinois courts will determine that the act requiring parental notification of abortion will interfere with the new fundamental right to abortion.
Of course, laws in Illinois are constantly changing. The skilled attorneys of Glasgow & Olsson always keep up-to-date on the latest changes so that we can provide our clients with the best possible representation when they face criminal charges.
(image courtesy of T Chick McClure)