* Press release…

Today, Governor JB Pritzker met with pro-choice advocates and service members from Illinois and Missouri to discuss the importance of protecting abortion rights and to reaffirm his commitment to safe, accessible reproductive health care for women everywhere. As radical Republican-controlled states surrounding Illinois implement harsh bans on women’s bodies, Illinois remains an island for reproductive freedom thanks to Governor Pritzker’s leadership.

“Whether you’re an active duty soldier, a single mom, a working woman, or just a woman who wants to have control over your future––we are with you.” said Governor JB Pritzker. “In Illinois, we trust women and so long as I am governor that will always be the case.”

“Illinois is a critical access point now and in a post-Roe future,” said Chief Medical Officer at Reproductive Health Services at Planned Parenthood of the St Louis Region and Southwest Missouri. “We have an opportunity to rebuild a broken system, a system that has never been equitable or accessible for everyone who needs it.”

Governor Pritzker stands with women in every corner of the state and nation in the fight for equal rights, including women faced with existing barriers to access like active duty and retired service members. While every single GOP candidate running for governor cheers on the Supreme Court’s imminent and disastrous decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Governor Pritzker recognizes that women’s bodily autonomy is on the ballot and remains resolute in his belief that all people deserve the right to make their own health care decisions and live a life by their own design.

A recorded copy of the event can be found at JBPritzker.com/live

* Richard Irvin was asked about the governor’s comments on the Republican gubernatorial candidates at his press conference today…

You know, it’s a shame that JB Pritzker is using something that is such an important issue for us to be talking about as political fodder. He does not have anything other to talk about then trying to make something like that about politics. He doesn’t want to talk about his failures in the state. He doesn’t want to talk about the fact that crime is spinning out of control in the state of Illinois. Taxes and wasteful spending is spinning out of control. He doesn’t want to talk about the corruption that has prevented us from going forward and progressing as a state. He wants to talk about things that are already determined to be codified law in the state of Illinois. He is using that as politics.

OK, on the “codified law” bit, but then Irvin was told that the state’s parental notification law ends today and was asked: “When you become governor will you reinstate it?” “Absolutely,” Irvin said, and then the press conference ended.

Seems like a contradiction, but maybe you disagree.

* Speaking of the PNA repeal, here’s the ACLU of Illinois…

Abortion access in Illinois expanded today with the end of the Parental Notice of Abortion (PNA) law. This measure required a minor seeking abortion care to notify a designated family member, often putting young people in unsafe and harmful family situations in further danger when they sought to access this health care.

“Prior to today, pregnant young people could make any medical decision without barriers except abortion. Now thankfully they have the same right to make a confidential decision about their health care as everyone else” said Emily Werth, staff attorney at the ACLU of Illinois. “Today abortion is treated just like all other forms of health care in this state.”

This end of the parental notification law comes at a pivotal moment in the fight for abortion rights. A draft opinion leaked from the Supreme Court early this month suggests a majority of Justices are poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, eliminating access to abortion in much of the country. A number of states are rushing to pass – or preparing to enforce previously adopted – bans on abortion if Roe falls.

The Parental Notice of Abortion Act has been enforced in Illinois since 2013. During that time the ACLU of Illinois has run the Judicial Bypass Coordination Project which ensured that those effected by the law were still able to access abortion care in this state. Volunteers helped operate a hotline to answer questions on the law and provide resources, and pro bono attorneys and ACLU staff represented minors who needed to get a waiver from a court in order to have an abortion without forced family involvement.

“During the nearly nine years the harmful law was in effect we helped more than 625 young people get the court approval they unfortunately needed to have an abortion. Only one of our client’s judicial bypass waiver requests was ever denied by a judge. All people, regardless of their age, know what decision is best for them. And everyone should have the right to decide for themselves,” Werth added.

The measure taking effect today is HB370 – the Youth Health and Safety Act. The bill which repeals the Parental Notice of Abortion Act was sponsored by Senator Elgie Sims and Representative Anna Moeller, and was approved by the General Assembly in October of 2021, and signed into law by Governor JB Pritzker in December 2021.