Sweeping Abortion Rights Bill Heads To Pritzker's Desk

SPRINGFIELD —Three days after it passed the Illinois House with a 64-50 vote and four voting "present," the Senate passed a sweeping abortion rights bill that repeals decades-old restrictions even as states across the U.S. impose increasingly strict abortion laws.

On Friday, state Senators passed the bill with a vote of 34-20, with three voting present, sending the bill establishing abortion as a "fundamental right" to Gov. JB Pritzker's desk.

In January, Pritzker vowed that Illinois would be the "most progressive" state when it comes to protecting women's reproductive rights. The bill passed late Friday states that a "fertilized egg, embryo or fetus does not have independent rights" and says that the state shall not "deny, restrict, interfere with, or discriminate against an individual's exercise of the fundamental rights in this act," and will not "prosecute, punish, or otherwise deprive any individual of the individual's rights for any act or failure to act during the individual's own pregnancy."

The bill 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.

The bill faced criticism from some Republicans and the Catholic Conference of Illinois, which called it a "collective moral failing."

Republican Sen. Sue Rezin of Morris called the bill a "radical" expansion of what's currently allowed under the law, according to the Chicago Tribune.

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As other states pass increasingly restrictive abortion laws, Grayslake Democrat Sen. Melinda Bush told the Tribune she believes "there's a war against women's rights going on," adding, "We're not going back to coat hangers, we're not going back to dying. We're not going back. And I am proud to say Illinois is a beacon. For women’s rights, for human rights."