Attorney CK Hoffler says Roe v. Wade decision will impact black, brown women; threatens other rights
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The effects of the Roe v. Wade ruling is beginning to take shape, but many fear this decision could be used to strike down other rights.
CBS 2's Jim Williams is exploring that aspect and the difficulty some women who want abortions may have trying to get to Illinois and other states with abortion rights.
Gov. JB Pritzker, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, and Planned Parenthood are preparing for a large influx of women from other states seeking abortions in Illinois.
But attorney CK Hoffler, chair of the Rainbow-PUSH board, told us Friday's Supreme Court ruling will hit some women in the red states much harder than others.
"Black and brown people should be very, very concerned," Hoffler said. "Roe v. Wade is going to have a particularly devastating impact on black and brown women, and poor women, because they're not going to have the ability, necessarily, to just pivot, fly to a state that has very -- liberal if you will -- abortion rights policies."
The fear now among those who support abortion rights -- like Hoffler -- is the Supreme Court might, they say, target other laws that protect women and minorities.
"It doesn't matter that in the opinion, or with the justices are saying, that your other rights are not at stake because the analysis and the logic for overturning Roe v. Wade is that women's reproductive rights, abortion, those things were not contemplated by the founding fathers in the U.S. constitution," Hoffler said.
"The U.S. Constitution also did not contemplate that black people are human beings. It also did not contemplate single-sex marriages. It also did not contemplate a whole host of things that are relevant to today's communities."
Those arguments are bolstering the push to get liberal and left-leaning voters to the polls this year and behind.
The NAACP is launching a voter registration drive ahead of the mid-term elections.