Time is running out for Illinois Democrats to put a rumored constitutional amendment on the fall ballot enshrining a so-called right to abortion and sex-change operations.
The Legislature has roughly two weeks to draft the language and pass it with a supermajority in both chambers to meet election deadlines. State law requires ballot measures to be approved by May 5, exactly six months before Election Day.
Gov. JB Pritzker recently told Capitol Fax’s Rich Miller the issue wasn’t on his priority list this year.
“Literally nobody is talking about it,” Miller told Heartlander News.
Illinois Right to Life (IRL) advocates continue to monitor the situation closely despite the governor’s dismissive comments on the issue. The pro-life organization recently filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to uncover the administration’s possible long-term plans.
The state shielded the actual internal memo from disclosure under FOIA rules, but officials did release an email subject line confirming a memo exists.
Advocates believe a proposed amendment would simultaneously enshrine abortion access, contraception and sex-change procedures into the state constitution. Neighboring Missouri passed a similar constitutional amendment in 2024, but a vote this fall would reverse it.
“We weren’t able to glean access to the details, but we were able to confirm that inside of the governor’s office, they were passing back and forth a memo that was specifically called … a single vote constitutional amendment,” IRL President Mary Kate Zander told supporters on a recent press call. “That was enough confirmation to us to know … we need to be prepared for this.”
It’s a rapidly closing window for the constitutional amendment, but Democrats are pushing several other abortion-related bills through the state Legislature in the meantime.
The House recently passed legislation to reallocate segregated Affordable Care Act funds to establish grants for abortion services. Representatives also passed a bill to remove abortion pills from the state’s prescription monitoring program.
Other pending legislation would mandate abortion access for youth under the care of the state, eliminate fetal death certificates for hospital miscarriages and segregate a minor’s abortion records from their primary digital medical history.
