Illinois House Passes Abortion Rights Bill

SPRINGFIELD, IL — On the same day Missouri's last abortion clinic announced it may close, legislators in Illinois' House passed a sweeping abortion rights bill. The Illinois House voted 64-50 Tuesday in favor of Senate Bill 25, which creates the Reproductive Health Act and removes some restrictions on later-term abortions.

The bill, which now heads to the Senate, repeals both the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act and the 1975 Illinois Abortion Law, a set of restrictions that are already not enforced due to court injunctions. The legislation replaces the 1975 act with a new law that would remove measures that call for spousal consent, waiting periods or criminal penalties for doctors who perform abortions.

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Tuesday's vote came after an emotional debate on the House floor. Downstate Republican Rep. Avery Bourne, who is pregnant, criticized the bill, calling it "a massive expansion that will impact viable babies, and that is wrong," according to the Chicago Tribune.

Meanwhile, pro-choice activists dressed as handmaids from "The Handmaid's Tale" sat in the chamber as the bill was debated.

“Today, Illinois says we’re better than this war on women, Illinois says we trust women,” state Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, the legislation’s chief sponsor in the House, said, according to the Belleville News-Democrat.

The House vote comes as other states pass increased restrictions and bans on abortion.

Gov. JB Pritzker issued a statement Tuesday in support of the bill and applauding Cassidy, saying, "As a lifelong advocate of a woman’s right to choose, I applaud the House for passing the Reproductive Healthcare Act and urge the Senate to take swift action on this critical piece of legislation. With reproductive healthcare under attack across the country, we must do everything in our power to protect women’s rights in Illinois. ... Today was a major step forward for every woman in this state and I look forward continuing my work as an ally by signing the Reproductive Healthcare Act into law."

The ACLU of Illinois also lauded the House vote, saying in a statement, "House members made clear that Roe v. Wade and its protections for reproductive freedom — is under threat today as never before — with more than 20 cases in the federal court pipeline aimed at crippling or reversing Roe. The RHA responds to this threat by recognizing reproductive health care as a fundamental right, and by removing outdated, long-blocked statutes that make many forms of abortion care and contraceptives a crime."

The Catholic Conference of Illinois, which lobbies for the Catholic church in Springfield, called the House vote a "collective moral failing" and said the bill is misnamed. "The proponents of the so-called Reproductive Health Act have portrayed it as a simple clean-up bill, taking old statutes off the books. This is false," the statement said. "The bill includes new provisions that render any regulation of abortion impossible, strip away standards for — and regulation of — clinics where abortions are performed, and mandate private insurance plans subject to Illinois’ authority cover abortion."