Where Illinois and nearby states' abortion laws stand one year after Roe vs. Wade was overturned
CHICAGO (CBS/AP) -- Saturday marks the first anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision and ended the federal right to an abortion.
Abortion rights remain intact in Illinois. A state statute had already been in place to protect women's reproductive rights in the event Roe v. Wade was struck down.
Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker signed a law in 2019 making reproductive health care – including abortion – a human right.
That 2019 law enhanced a 2017 state law signed by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner that codified abortion as legal in Illinois.
The 2017 legislation provided state health insurance and Medicaid coverage for abortions and also removed language in Illinois law that had stated a desire to criminalize abortion if Roe v. Wade was overturned. Democrats adopted that provision after then-President Donald Trump expressed his opposition to abortion.
Abortion had been illegal in Illinois before the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. In 1975, state lawmakers passed the Illinois Abortion Act – a "trigger law" that would have made abortion illegal in Illinois again if Roe v. Wade were overturned – but the 2017 legislation nullified that law.
One change Illinois has seen since the Dobbs ruling is that abortion patients have been flooding to Illinois from states where abortion is no longer legal. This began immediately after the Dobbs ruling.
In August 2022, Planned Parenthood said they had previously typically seen around 100 patients from other states every month.
But after Roe was overturned, PPIL said they saw 750 new patients in just the first week. The call volume at PPIL also doubled in the days after the Supreme Court decision.
Earlier this year, state lawmakers passed a bill that shields reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare patients and providers from legal action originating across state lines.
There have been changes in neighboring states close to the Chicago area when it comes to abortion rights.
Indiana
On Friday, June 30, the Indiana Supreme Court upheld a near-total abortion ban in Indiana, which was signed into law by Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb and went into effect in September of last year. The ban had some exceptions, including in cases of rape, incest, and to protect the life and physical health of the mother.
The following month, the Indiana Supreme Court issued an order preventing the state from enforcing the ban, while considering whether the ban violates the state constitution.
A county-level judge in September of last year had found the Indiana law likely violated privacy protections under the state constitution.
With the case pending, abortion remained legal in Indiana – though only up to 20 weeks post-fertilization. But the state Supreme Court ruled has removed a major hurdle to enforcing the ban.
Wisconsin
Following the Dobbs ruling, Wisconsin doctors halted abortions – because the ruling reactivated an 1849 law outlawing abortions. The 1849 law provided no exceptions for rape or incest and only allows abortions to save the life of a mother.
Democratic Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul and a group of physicians, with the support of Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, have sued to overturn the ban, arguing a 1985 law that permits abortion up to the point of viability trumps it. The new liberal-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court is expected to decide the case.
Meanwhile in May 2023, Wisconsin state Sen. Romaine Quinn (R-Cameron), and Reps. Gae Magnafici (R-Dresser) and Donna Rozar (R-Marshfield) released a package of four bills to tweak the state's abortion ban.
The first measure would increase the penalty for anyone besides the mother who performs or causes an abortion with the intent to kill the unborn child guilty to 12 1/2 years in prison. Currently, the maximum sentence is six years.
Another bill would clarify that medical procedures designed to save a pregnant woman's life but could harm the unborn child don't qualify as abortion as long as the procedures aren't performed with the intent of killing the child and the doctor tries to preserve the mother and the child's lives. The bill lists inducing labor early, cesarean sections, removal of a miscarriage, or ectopic or molar pregnancies as examples of acceptable procedures.
Evers is almost certain to veto the measure should it pass the Republican-controlled Legislature. He has already promised to veto a different Republican-backed bill that would allow abortions in the case of rape or incest, saying he supports restoring abortion rights to what they were in Wisconsin before the Dobbs ruling.
Michigan
A 1931 Michigan law made abortion a felony in most cases – and provided no exception for rape or incest. Potential enforcement of that law was put on hold in May 2022, ahead of the Dobbs ruling.
Abortion providers in Michigan had gone to state court a month earlier to block the 1931 measure's enforcement and challenge its legality under the state's constitution.
In September 2022, a Michigan judge invalidated the 1931 law. In a 39-page decision, Judge Elizabeth Gleicher ruled Michigan's pre-Roe law violates the state constitution, as its enforcement "would deprive pregnant women of their right to bodily integrity and autonomy, and the equal protection of the law."
Judge Gleicher also permanently blocked Michigan's attorney general, Dana Nessel, from enforcing the law, though Nessel, who supports abortion rights, had said she would not prosecute women seeking abortions or their doctors if Roe were overturned.
In November 2022, 55.8% of voters supported a referendum to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution of Michigan.
Proposition 3 amended Article I of the state's constitution to add a section that states: "Every individual has a fundamental right to reproductive freedom, which entails the right to make and effectuate decisions about all matters relating to pregnancy, including but not limited to prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, sterilization, abortion care, miscarriage management, and infertility care."
The amendment states that while the state can regulate abortion, it cannot prohibit an abortion that a medical professional deems necessary to protect the physical and mental health of a pregnant person.
With the amendment, the state can't penalize or prosecute those who receive an abortion or someone who assists in an abortion.
In April of this year, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed bipartisan legislation repealing the 1931 abortion law.
