Kane County Reporter

State Senate Republican Leader Dan McConchie is taking aim at Gov. J.B. Pritzker, claiming the Democrat is focusing on abortion, despite that it's still legal in Illinois, and ignoring issues like gas prices and inflation.

As CNBC reported late last week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 6-3 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which had stood for nearly half a century. The June 24 ruling effectively gives states control over the legality of abortion within their borders. Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority that the Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and as a result, abortion is not a right guaranteed by any constitutional provision. McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods) said in Facebook the governor is pushing the state toward the extreme when it comes to abortion. 

“Right now, Illinoisans can already get an abortion in all nine months of pregnancy for any reason and use taxpayer dollars to pay for it,” he said in the social media post. “But that's not enough. Now, they want us to help pay for out-of-state residents to travel to Illinois to receive abortions and even allow non-physicians here to perform them.”

McConchie said in the post that the governor is out of step with mainstream residents. A NewsChannel 20 report said that in the wake of the adoption of House Bill 20 in 2018, taxpayer-funded abortions have increased in the state, and in the first six months after the bill became law, 1,561 abortions were performed on the state’s dime, including one procedure for a 12-year-old girl.  

“While the governor is calling a special session to act on these and potentially other extreme measures, Illinoisans are trying to deal with soaring gas prices and massive grocery bills that are leaving families hopeless,” he said on Facebook. “Instead of dealing with these vital issues, Pritzker is embracing an extreme agenda that will make Illinois an outlier even amongst the most liberal states."

Moreover, the Chicago Tribune reported that the state is among those with the least restrictive abortion laws in the nation, with women coming from other states for the procedure each year. The newspaper said more than 36,000 women from Illinois underwent the procedure in 2020, while nearly 10,000 women traveled from out of state to receive an abortion in Illinois. In the wake of the decision, Pritzker said in a press release that reproductive health care would remain accessible in the state.  

“In Illinois, we've planned for this terrible day, an enormous step backward and a shattering loss of rights,” the governor said in the press release. "We passed the Reproductive Health Act, enshrining choice as the law of the land in Illinois. We removed the trigger law that would have prohibited abortion in Illinois with the overturning of Roe v. Wade.”  

Pritzker also said in the press release that the state expanded health care to ensure that finances would not be an issue for women seeking reproductive health care.

“In Illinois, we are a state committed to expanding access to reproductive health care including abortion care, contraception access, fertility treatment and gender affirming care,” he said in the release. “We've made it clear that we trust people to make the best decisions for themselves about their own reproductive health.” 

Further, Pritzker said in the release that the state is firm on these rights and will continue to work with key leaders to expand those rights for women in the state.  

“To that end, I am calling the General Assembly into special session in the coming weeks, with the support and consultation of House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch and Senate President Don Harmon,” he said in the press release. ”Together, we are committed to taking swift action to further enshrine our commitment to reproductive health-care rights and protections.” 

As the abortion controversy heated up, the American Automobile Association reported the average cost of a gallon of regular gasoline in Illinois stood at $5.435 on Monday, up from $3.299 one year ago. The average price in Kane County was $5.617 on Monday.