Illinois Democrats see abortion rights as ‘fundamental’ issue in 2024

CHICAGO – Illinois delegates to the Democratic National Convention focused their attention Tuesday on reproductive rights, which some leaders say could eclipse the economy as a defining issue of the 2024 election campaign.

“We want to be able to take care of our families. We want to be able to have a strong economy,” Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton told reporters after the Illinois delegation’s breakfast meeting on Day 2 of the convention. “But I do think the fact that they have decided, the GOP, to attack our fundamental rights – the first time a fundamental right has ever been stripped away from us – and taking us backward, I think has mobilized voters all across the country. So yes, it is a fundamental issue of this campaign.”

Abortion rights have been a significant issue in U.S. elections dating back at least to 1973, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Roe vs. Wade that women have a constitutional right to an abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy.

But it soared to the top of the agenda in 2022 when a new, more conservative court reversed that decision and said there is no federal constitutional right to abortion, effectively leaving the issue to be decided on a state-by-state basis.

Stratton said she believes that decision made reproductive rights equal to the economy as a national political issue.

“The focus on reproductive rights is the economy,” she said. “For women to be able to work, for women to be able to take care of our children, for us to be able to put food on the table, reproductive rights and the ability to decide what’s best for our bodies is an economic issue.”

In Illinois, access to abortion services remains virtually unrestricted. The 2019 Reproductive Health Act declares in statute that access to abortion is a “fundamental right.” And just months after the overturning of Roe, Illinois lawmakers passed the Patient and Provider Protection Act, which extends even more legal protections to ensure access to the procedure.

But Megan Jeyifo, executive director of the Chicago Abortion Fund, a nonprofit organization that helps women seeking abortions to defray the cost of the procedure, noted that 41 other states now ban the procedure at some point in a pregnancy. She said 14 states ban it “outright.”

She said that resulted last year alone in an estimated 37,000 women coming to Illinois from other states to seek abortions.

“These bans are not just policies, they are acts of violence,” she said.

Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Gov. JB Pritzker, an ardent supporter of abortion rights who was scheduled to speak at the convention Tuesday, founded Think Big America, an organization that has pushed to get abortion rights initiatives on the ballot in states around the country.

According to a count by the Associated Press, at least 11 states will have abortion rights measures on their ballots in November.

Pritzker’s organization has not, however, pushed to for a state constitutional amendment in Illinois, where abortion rights are currently protected only by statutes that can be repealed by a future General Assembly if abortion opponents ever win a majority in the legislature.

Stratton said she did not think a constitutional amendment in Illinois is a political priority at the present time.

“What I think we need to do right now is to focus our attention where we are putting it, and that is, first and foremost, making sure that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz get elected on Nov. 5,” she said.

The delegation also heard Tuesday morning from another group that has long been a key to its success: organized labor.

“Democrats don’t win without organized labor, and organized labor puts everything at risk when Democrats don’t win,” state Senate President Don Harmon, of Oak Park, told the delegation. “So we are in this fight together, and we got to stick together.”

In 2022, Democrats in the General Assembly approved putting a constitutional amendment on the ballot giving workers “the fundamental right to organize and to bargain collectively” on issues including wages, hours, working conditions, economic welfare and workplace safety.

But their support for that amendment has become complicated in recent months when some of the legislature’s own employees – specifically, dozens of staff members who work in the office of Democratic House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, of Hillside – tried to unionize.

Legislative employees are currently exempt from state laws governing unions that represent other public sector employees.

Amid a stalemate, Welch’s employees filed suit against the speaker, seeking to test the Workers’ Rights Amendment. Welch’s attorneys, citing floor debate of the amendment, argued for a limited reading of it.

In a legal filing last week, the attorneys wrote those suing Welch “are fundamentally wrong when they assert that the WRA (Workers’ Rights Amendment) was intended to extend a ‘universal right’ and be a ‘gap-filling’ measure allowing all Illinois employees to be represented by a labor organization and bargain collectively…”

Asked about the unionization effort on Monday, Welch said his “record is clear” and noted he moved a bill through the House last year that would have allowed staff to unionize.

“I am a big supporter of union rights, but we have a law in place currently that I have fought to change,” he said. “I passed a bill out of the house overwhelmingly. I stand by that bill. I’m hoping that the Senate moves that bill to the governor’s desk and the governor signs it.”

Harmon on Tuesday called the bill that passed out of the House a “nonstarter” and said he thinks any issues concerning staff in the speaker’s office should be resolved in the House.

“I think everybody understands, including the staff, that there are fatal flaws in the bill,” Harmon said. “And again, I hope that the House leadership and staff will get together and work out their own problems.”

Home state Democrats on display

Monday night’s convention programming ran late, with President Joe Biden providing the keynote address to thunderous applause and chants of “we love Joe.”

But Illinois speakers were also featured throughout the evening, including U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, U.S. Rep Lauren Underwood, and former Chicago Bull and Olympic head basketball coach Steve Kerr. Hillary Clinton, who was born in Chicago, also drew raucous applause in an evening speech.

Durbin likened Trump to a “bad boss,” while Underwood, a registered nurse, criticized Trump’s handling of the pandemic, saying, “He took the COVID crisis and turned it into a catastrophe.”

Kerr, who famously buried the game-winning shot in Game 6 of the 1997 NBA Finals at the United Center to net the Bulls their fifth championship, said he felt a new energy in the building. He said he was supporting the Harris-Walz ticket because leaders “must display dignity,” must tell the truth and should be able to laugh at themselves.

The DNC crowd also celebrated the Rev. Jesse Jackson Jr., the Chicago civil rights leader who ran for president as a Democrat in 1984 and 1988, becoming the first Black candidate to win a major-party state primary or caucus. He didn’t speak but drew a standing ovation from the hometown crowd.

Illinois speakers were set to be on display Tuesday night as well, with Gov. JB Pritzker and former President Barack Obama scheduled to address the United Center crowd.

Pritzker, at Illinois’ Monday breakfast, teased a potential run for a third term in 2026 – noting he’d be the longest-serving Democratic governor in Illinois history simply by serving out his current term.

“So I’m not suggesting that I want to try to beat Jim Thompson’s 14-year record,” he said. “My wife’s not here, and I don’t want anybody talking to her about this, but she is my term limit. So if all of you want to talk to her and convince her one way or another, by the way, you’re welcome to do that.”

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.