Abortion in Illinois

[2][3] The 2023 American Values Atlas reported that, in their most recent survey, 68% of Illinoisans said that abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

Sinai Hospital in Chicago created an anonymous committee to approve all requests for therapeutic abortions.

[5] The US Supreme Court's 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade meant the state could no longer regulate abortion before the viability of the fetus.

The Act required physicians to give 48 hours' notice to the parent, grandparent or guardian of a minor seeking an abortion.

In the same act, the General Assembly provided for abortion to be covered under Medicaid and state employee health insurance.

[20] The state prohibited abortions after the fetus was viable, generally some point between week 24 and 28, based on the standard defined by the US Supreme Court in 1973 with the Roe v. Wade ruling, not because of legislative action.

[21][20][22] State legislators had introduced a bill in February 2019 to make abortion a right and to remove the 12-week ban from the books.

After the bill passed, Governor Pritzker was on the Illinois Senate floor, hugging and congratulating abortion-rights supporters.

[2][3] In fall 2021, the General Assembly passed a bill to repeal the Parental Notice of Abortion Act.

Thus, as of June 1, 2022, Illinois does not require a minor to notify a parent or guardian in order to obtain an abortion.

[37] In 2017, there were 17 Planned Parenthood clinics, 11 of which offered abortion services in a state with a population of 3,003,374 women aged 15–49.

[38] Following the announcement in late-May 2019 that the last remaining abortion clinic in the state of Missouri would likely close because it was unable to meet new state licensing rules, abortion clinics in Illinois prepared for an influx of new patients by hiring additional staff and increasing their opening hours.

[35] In 2014, 56% of adults said in a poll by the Pew Research Center that abortion should be legal vs. 41% that believe it should be illegal in all or most cases.

The Court ruled in a case over a Missouri law that banned abortions being performed in public buildings unless there was a need to save the life of the mother, required physicians to determine if a fetus was past 20 weeks and was viable in addition to other restrictions on a woman's ability to get an abortion.

[58] Following the leak of the overturn of Roe v. Wade on May 2, 2022, Illinois saw protests in Bloomington,[59] Chicago,[60] Peoria,[61] Rockford,[62] and Springfield.

[64] On May 14, thousands of abortion rights protesters, and a group of anti-abortion activists, met and marched in Union Park and Beverly in Chicago.

[72] On June 24, 2023, the one year anniversary of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, an abortion rights protest was held in Chicago outside of Federal Plaza.

[73] In Chicago on July 15 and September 28, 2023, dozens of abortion rights protesters rallied against "crisis pregnancy centers".

[76] In McHenry, Illinois on October 28, 2023, a group of abortion rights protesters rallied against "crisis pregnancy centers".

[77] In Chicago on March 26, 2024, a group of abortion rights protesters rallied outside the federal courthouse downtown in support of preserving access to mifepristone.

[79][80] In Chicago on September 26, 2024, a group of abortion rights protesters rallied outside of an anti-abortion banquet benefiting "crisis pregnancy centers".

[83][84] Illinois Family Institute (IFI), a Christian nonprofit organization opposed to abortion, separation of church and state, "activist judges", the "marriage penalty", civil unions, same-sex marriage, gambling and drug legalization based in Illinois.

In 1967, Phyllis Schlafly launched the Eagle Trust Fund in Chicago, Illinois for receiving donations related to conservative causes.

It is opposed to a number of feminist issues, which founder Phyllis Schlafly claimed were "extremely destructive" and "poisoned the attitudes of many young women."

[91] According to Schlafly, the passage of the ERA could "mean Government-funded abortions, homosexual schoolteachers, women forced into military combat and men refusing to support their wives."

The group's leader, Joe Scheidler, published a book in 1985, called Closed: 99 Ways to Stop Abortion.

[95] Beginning in 1983, American Catholic Cardinal Joseph Bernardin argued that abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, and unjust war are all related, and all wrong.

"[96] Following the passage of abortion bans in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi in early 2019, Pro-Life Action League saw an increase in donations and people asking to volunteer to help the organization.