HEALTHCARE

What's next for Planned Parenthood, Right to Life in Illinois after court's Roe decision

State Journal-Register

Dennis Fessler of Macon and Mary Hoffmeyer of Taos hold a sign in front of the Missouri Supreme Court in Jefferson City on Friday as about 80 people applauded the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the 1973 landmark decision of Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion.

Brigid Leahy said Planned Parenthood Illinois Action officials had been preparing for the end of the Roe v. Wade case for years.

While Leahy didn't find herself surprised by Friday's U.S. Supreme Court decision, which said the Constitution does not protect the rights of women to choose abortion and instead leaves those decisions in the hands of state lawmakers, she was "shocked, outraged and terribly upset."

"It is absolutely outrageous and devastating that the Supreme Court said today that we don't have these rights anymore," said Leahy, vice president of public policy for Planned Parenthood Illinois Action, who lives in Menard County and works in Springfield. "This is almost 50 years of precedence. This will make a terrible difference in the real lives of millions of people across the country."

More than half of the people in the country will lose access to abortion, contended Leahy, including five states that border Illinois.

"Abortion is still safe and legal in Illinois, and it will remain that way," Leahy said. "We have a state law, the Reproductive Health Act, that recognizes reproductive rights and the right to access abortion as a fundamental right. However, we are deeply concerned about what is going to happen in all of the states around Illinois."

Savannah Dudzik, a communications assistant with Illinois Right to Life's Chicago office, said she didn't know if supporters would ever see this day, but it was "a victory for countless thousands of babies who will be saved every year.

"However, here in Illinois, our work is just beginning. Because of the radical laws (here), we expect the abortion rate to skyrocket. Now more than ever, we need to do our part to protect babies."

Springfield Right to Life executive director Mary Jean Sheets said the overturning of Roe v. Wade "finally recognized that fundamentally it was a problem with the original law."

Planned Parenthood, Right to Life gearing up

Planned Parenthood of Illinois' Director of Health Equity Deloris Walker said 26 states could ban abortion including every state that borders Illinois.

"We've really been ramping up for this for a while, to take care of our patients in state and out of state," Walker said. "We're prepared for the increase of about 20,000 to 30,000 additional out-of-state abortions annually after the overturning of Roe v Wade."

Jodie Williams of Springfield attends a Abortion-rights protest rally in front of the Springfield Federal Courthouse Friday June 24, 2022 held by "The Resistor Sisterhood" as a reaction to the overturning of Roe by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Of the five states that border Illinois, three have laws that ban most or all abortions with Roe v. Wade overturned.

Wisconsin's law bans abortions, with an exception that allows for abortions "to save the life of the mother." All procedures were suspended Friday. Missouri and Kentucky are among 13 states with "trigger laws," which ban nearly all abortions with no exceptions for incest or rape.

The Iowa Supreme Court on June 17 ruled that abortion rights are not protected under the state's constitution, striking down a 2018 ruling that said the opposite. Abortions are prohibited after 20 weeks, unless life and physical health are at risk.

Similarly, Indiana does not ban abortions, but also restricts them after 20 weeks, requires an ultrasound for patients, allows doctors and institutions to refuse to provide the service and bans public funding for the procedure, according to their state's law. The Indiana General Assembly will address abortion in an upcoming special session.

Planned Parenthood has built health centers in the last few years with this potential decision in mind. A health center built in Waukegan, near the Wisconsin border and 40 miles north of the Chicago Loop, has been expanded to provide full reproductive health care including birth control, abortions and STI testing, according to Walker.

Walker said the main barrier is taking off work to travel to a safe haven state like Illinois.

Not everyone has the resources or the time to travel, Walker said. This will really affect Black, Latinx and indigenous women, immigrants and women who make up the working poor, according to Walker.

To combat some of these difficulties, Planned Parenthood now has abortion navigators, staff members specially tasked to provide travel assistance such as lodging, transportation and other needs, Leahy said.

Springfield's Planned Parenthood Health Center could be one of those destinations for out-of-staters, Leahy said, because it provides both medication abortion and in-clinic procedures.

Dudzik said it was disingenuous that abortion supporters referred to Illinois as "a haven."

"A haven is supposed to be a safe place and Illinois is going to be the place where thousands more children are going to be killed, so it's actually the opposite of a safe place," Dudzik said.

Right to Life has been conducting "ground zero" tours which educate Illinois citizens on what the abortion laws are and what the group can do to help, Dudzik said. Right to Life believes Illinois will be ground zero for the abortion debate now that Roe has been overturned.

Brigid Leahy, director of government relations for Planned Parenthood of Illinois, delivers her remarks as she is joined by then-state Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, and leaders representing education, social services and labor urging everyone to vote early and to vote for the graduated income tax during a press conference outside the Sangamon County Complex on Oct. 27, 2020, in Springfield.

Dudzik said Right to Life's Project Love grant program supports pregnant women and new mothers having financial difficulties by providing one-time grants for rent, utility bills or other necessities.

Contact Royale Bonds: rbonds@gannett.com, twitter.com/@Royale59699722. Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.