Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker weighed in on Twitter Monday night on the leaked draft opinion suggesting the Supreme Court plans to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling legalizing abortion.
He tweeted out, “Hell no! In Illinois, we trust women. We cannot let their most profound and personal rights be violated.” He later added, “Let me be clear: this has always been the GOP’s ultimate goal. For a party that claims to be about freedom, Republicans can’t wait to deprive millions of women the right to choose. As long as I’m governor, Illinois will stay a beacon for reproductive freedom. We won’t go back.”
Local U.S. Rep Responses
U.S. Rep. Sean Casten (D-Illinois) tweeted “Put pro-choice majorities in the House and Senate this November and we fix this, permanently. Scream tonight. Cry tonight. Get angry tonight. And tomorrow, get to work.”
U.S. Rep. Bill Foster (D-Illinois) tweeted “The Senate can make the reported SCOTUS decision moot by passing the House-passed Women’s Health Protection Act immediately.”
The Draft
Politico had released the leaked draft opinion earlier in the night. It was written by Justice Samuel Alito in early February, two months after oral arguments were heard in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case. That case centers on a Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The Supreme Court has not yet ruled on the case.
In the draft opinion, Alito states, “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start.” It says that the decision, rather than settling the abortion issue, has instead “enflamed debate and deepened division.”
The ruling on Roe v. Wade in 1973 guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights. In 1992, a 5-4 ruling in the Planned Parenthood v. Casey case affirmed the “essential holding” of Roe v. Wade.
Alito addresses both cases within the brief, saying, “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled.” He continues, “The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision, including the one on which the defenders of Roe and Casey now chiefly rely-the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”
He says the issue of abortion should be returned “to the people’s elected representatives.”
The Politico article notes that it is unclear whether there have been any changes to the draft since February.
Presser Tuesday
Governor J.B. Pritzker plans to address the leaked draft at a press conference with other legislators on Tuesday morning at 8:30 a.m.
Naperville News 17’s Kim Pirc reports
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