Forum in St. Charles stresses Nov. 8 election as critical to protect legal access to abortion in Illinois

ST. CHARLES – When the U.S. Supreme Court decided Dobbs vs. Jackson in June, it overturned Roe v. Wade, ending 50 years of a constitutional right to abortion.

Illinois stands in the middle of states that have banned or restricted abortion access, so women travel here, said Rianne Hawkins, director of Advocacy and Campaigns for Illinois Planned Parenthood.

“I work out of the Springfield health center, one of two health care facilities as far south as you can get in Illinois,” Hawkins said. “We routinely see license plates from states like Texas, Kentucky, Idaho, Ohio. People coming to Illinois seeking care. And they come to Planned Parenthood because they can get an appointment very quickly. We are able to absorb the additional patient impact that is coming into the state.”

Hawkins was part of a forum hosted by Kane County Democratic Women Thursday at the Hickory Knolls Discovery Center in St. Charles, “Our Rights Are on the Ballot: The Impact of Dobbs v. Jackson!”

About 20 people attended the 90-minute question-and-answer forum.

Also participating were Ameri Klafeta, director of the Women’s and Reproductive Rights Project for the Illinois American Civil Liberties Union and State Rep. Anna Moeller, D-Elgin.

Lake County 19th Circuit Associate Judge Elizabeth Rochford, seeking election to the Illinois Supreme Court in the Nov. 8 General Election, served as keynote speaker.

While anti-abortion organizations and supporters were joyous at the overturning of Roe, it sent shockwaves through abortion rights groups, sparked marches and protests – and intensified political activism aimed at the November midterm elections.

“We need to make sure we are electing pro-choice champions all across the ballot to ... maintain Illinois as a pro-choice haven,” Hawkins said. “It’s not just Illinois, it’s our entire country that is counting on us.”

Hawkins said Illinois repealed its own trigger law in 2017 – the Illinois Abortion Act of 1975 legalized abortion but would have reinstated the ban if Roe were overturned. It also passed the Reproductive Health Act in 2019 and this year repealed the Parental Notice of Abortion Act of 1995.

“Extreme politicians are still just hellbent on taking away our rights,” Hawkins said. “In states like Indiana, West Virginia and South Carolina – those legislatures came in very quickly after this decision to enact near-total abortion bans. … Right here in Illinois, thanks to champions like Anna Moeller, abortion is legal in the state of Illinois.”

Voters’ choice first time in 22 years

Rochford is a Democrat running against Republican Mark Curran Jr. for the Second District Illinois Supreme Court, which includes DeKalb, Kendall, Kane, Lake and McHenry counties. Curran, a lawyer and former Lake County sheriff, has the endorsement of Illinois Right to Life, according to its website.

“This seat has always been in the hands of a Republican. It’s always been in the hands of a man,” Rochford said. “This redrawn district does not in any way ensure that a Democrat will be elected, but it creates an opportunity for the very first time.”

Illinois Supreme Court Justices are selected via geographic regions, work as a team and their rulings affect the entire state, Rochford said.

If voters have never heard of having a state supreme court justice to vote for – it’s because the last time it happened was in 2000, she said.

“Twenty-two years ago, there was an election like this one, for an open seat with parties running against each other. And it won’t happen again for at least another 10 years because the term of supreme court justices is 10 years,” Rochford said. “After 10 years, it’s a retention ballot, which means it’s a yes-no ballot, not an open election.”

In a retention election, the judge needs 50% of the vote to stay on the bench.

“It’s very likely that if we make a mistake in electing this supreme court justice, it will be a generation before we’ll have an opportunity to undo it,” Rochford said.

State’s high court could shift

Currently, four Democrats and three Republicans are on the Illinois Supreme Court in five districts, with Cook County having three. An election is also being held in the Third District between Republican Michael Burke and Democrat Mary O’Brien.

The Illinois Supreme Court deals with the biggest and most consequential cases and constitutional issues, Rochford said.

“If both of these seats go to Republicans, the majority ... will shift to a Republican court,” Rochford said.

Rochford has a 35-year career as an attorney, an assistant state’s attorney and a Lake County judge for 10 years.

The Illinois State Bar Association and the DuPage County Bar Association rated her “highly recommended” and the Lake County Bar Association rated her “highly qualified,” the highest possible ratings from each organization, she said.

The state bar and DuPage bar both rated Curran was “not recommended.”

According to Curran’s campaign website, curranforcourt.com, “For 58 years, the Democrat Party has run Illinois’ Judicial System. We’ve lost faith in our courts and are victimized by corruption.”

“We can restore faith in our courts, protect our rights, enforce our laws and stop corruption,” according to the website. “With the new map, District 2 is the absolute battleground for the leanings and therefore rulings of the Court moving forward.”

Rochford said judges are at the bottom of the ballot and urged voters to read the candidates all the way to the end.

“We are going to need your help, because getting this word out is a really overwhelming task,” Rochford said.

Illinois repealed its trigger law

Moeller said in 2016 when Donald Trump was elected president, she described herself as naive to think that Roe was at risk.

When another lawmaker suggested that they repeal Illinois’ own trigger law, Moeller said she was disbelieving.

“Roe is never going to go away,” Moeller said she told her fellow lawmaker.

Then, this past summer, she turned out to be wrong in her thinking.

“We cannot – obviously – rest on our laurels,” Moeller said. “We are always one election away from those rights being overturned. It’s so important that we elect Judge Rochford because we know there are lawsuits pending right now that would take away our rights, would overturn those laws that we passed. And we know that there are women counting on us from the Midwest. Women who are coming here every day to seek access to health care.”

Moeller was appointed to the Dobbs Working Group, which includes the ACLU and other abortion rights advocates. The working group is looking at the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience law that protects doctors and pharmacists who don’t want to provide reproductive health care, Moeller said.

It was amended to require them to provide information about where patients can get those services, but Moeller said she worries that religiously affiliated hospital systems may use it to deny care.

ACLU supports abortion rights

Klafeta said the Women’s and Reproductive Rights Project for the Illinois American Civil Liberties Union is non-partisan and provides education and information.

“One of our key priorities is reproductive rights – and has been for decades,” Klafeta said. “The Dobbs decision was devastating. It overturned a 50-year-old precedent in our country. It’s unprecedented for the court to remove a right that people have had for half a century.”

The court’s decision put abortion back to the states, she said.

“We know that when the dust settles, 22 states in this country are likely to have banned or try to have banned abortion,” Klafeta said. “Illinois is right in the middle of all the banned states.”

“What the Dobbs decision did not do was change anything here in Illinois,” Klafeta said. “Starting in the ‘70s in Illinois, we had really really hostile abortion laws … The ACLU fought … for decades. We held off a lot of these restrictions. And over time, the political climate in the state changed.”

Klafeta said one of her responsibilities was to go to court with teens who wanted an abortion but could not go to their parents.

“And I can’t even tell you just how much it means to have the Parental Notice Abortion Law off the books. It was the last obstacle,” Klafeta said. “This demonstrates what happens when people show up and vote.”

As Illinois has become a mecca for abortion services, Klafeta assured the group that if someone in Illinois helps a woman from a state where abortion is illegal, that person cannot be prosecuted.

“We are in a new legal world,” Klafeta said. “Right now, no one has criminalized leaving the state or helping someone, but it’s hard to get a clear answer on anything.”

Moeller said if Illinois loses its Democratic majority in the house, senate or executive branch, or if Congress flips and moves toward a federal ban, it would “wipe out everything we’ve done in Illinois.”

“These rights are very much in jeopardy,” Moeller said. “Lindsey Graham already introduced a bill that would ban it after 15 weeks. And Republicans didn’t like that bill because it was too lenient.”

Graham is a Republican U.S. Senator from South Carolina.