Could a result in an Alabama election impact Illinois? One abortion-rights group says yes

Following a flipped seat in the Alabama Legislature, abortion-rights advocates say a roadmap exists for Illinois Democrat challengers in the November election.

Marilyn Lands' victory in deeply conservative Alabama last month overturned a district long held by Republicans, her campaign focusing on the state's near-complete abortion ban and ensuring protection for in vitro fertilization after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos could be considered children.

The political landscape is notably different between the two states, Illinois seen as a beacon for abortion access, but the lessons learned Planned Parenthood Illinois Action deputy director of advocacy campaigns, Rianne Hawkins said, could be carried over.

"What we're seeing in the press right now is that many people are worried about the future of their reproductive rights," she said in a phone interview. "Each day there seems to be a new state, and in many states around the country, where access to the full range of sexual and reproductive healthcare is being taken away."

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This November, Planned Parenthood is backing a slate of abortion-rights Democrats running for the Illinois House and Senate. That list primarily consists of incumbents, but also 11 challengers to Republican-held House districts.

Democrat victories in those districts would make House Minority Leader Tony McCombie's job even harder, where she and 39 fellow Republicans in the 118-member chamber often lack the voting power to carry through on many of its major policy initiatives.

The Savanna Republican leaves the decision for how her GOP colleagues discuss abortion on the campaign to the candidate themselves. Still, she does not view abortion as the primary concern for voters heading to the polls. Instead McCombie, R-Savanna, told The State Journal-Register more on voters' minds are property taxes and economic development— areas where she believes her party is best suited to answer.

Abortion access is not at-risk in Illinois, she added, but more concerning are the "extremes" Democrats have enacted and are actively pursuing.

"Very few people believe that it is a fundamental right to kill a baby at nine months," McCombie said in an interview. "Majority of pro-choice Republicans and Democrats do not believe it is right to have a repeal of parental notification. That's extreme."

McCombie spoke with The SJ-R days prior to an April 17 March for Life rally in Springfield. There before a crowd spilling out to Second Street and Capitol Avenue, she chastised Democrats for making abortion a central tenet of recent and ongoing campaign seasons.

"Many are obsessed, fixated on keeping the issue alive, but not keeping children alive," she said during a rally outside the Illinois State Capitol. "Children in the womb should be cherished and loved, not exploited for politics."

McCombie's counterpart, House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch, has said he wants House Democrats to add its current 78-40 super-majority come November.

The Hillside Democrat formed a Dobbs decision working group to explore what areas the state could expand access to reproductive care, where the idea of putting abortion on the ballot and codifying it into the state constitution this year has been floated.

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At this point, however, it does not seem that a ballot question will be considered in Illinois this year. Gov. JB Pritzker has instead, through his nonprofit Think Big America initiative, targeted states like Nevada and Arizona to boost their efforts to enshrine access to abortion.

The Democratic governor has also used abortion to note the distinctions between the leading presidential candidates.

"Joe Biden is the one who is going to preserve a women's right to choose. It was Donald Trump that took that right away," he said recently on CNN's State of the Union.

Contact Patrick M. Keck: 312-549-9340, pkeck@gannett.com, twitter.com/@pkeckreporter.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: How abortion views could impact elections in Illinois in 2024