Gov. JB Pritzker Wednesday appealed to federal lawmakers to preserve abortion rights, and he chose a Fairview Heights abortion center to do it. Pritzker said the clinic across the river from St Louis is vital.
“More than 75 percent of the clinic’s patients are from out of state,” Pritzker said, “coming from places like Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas, and Kentucky, sometimes traveling eight-plus hours and hundreds of miles to get basic reproductive care.”
State Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Edwardsville) said she has to check her calendar to see whether this is really 2022.
“The (leaked U.S. Supreme Court) draft decision doesn’t just dismantle reproductive rights,” said Stuart. “It challenges the fundamental right to privacy that’s contained in the 14th Amendment. Should the final decision strip away that right to privacy, there is much more on the line: access to birth control and marriage equality both rely on that right to privacy, as does the decriminalization of homosexual activity.”
The highest court is apparently preparing to reverse Roe v. Wade, if that leaked decision is any indication.