Prairie State Wire

Massachusetts Sen. and Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren is singing the praises of new abortion legislation that critics insist will make Illinois “the abortion capital of the country.”

"I’m glad to see Illinois take a stand for women’s reproductive health care,” Warren posted on Twitter of Senate Bill 25. “Now, we need Congress to pass new federal laws that protect access to reproductive care across the country."

Over a 72-hour period that marked the end of the spring session in Springfield, the bill that establishes abortion as a “fundamental right” easily passed both chambers of the legislature and now heads to the desk of Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who has already vowed to sign off on it. Also known as the Reproductive Health Act (RHA), SB 25 also repeals the state’s ban on partial-birth abortions, stipulates that all health insurance companies cover abortion procedures at any stage of pregnancy and for any reason, and wipes away the state’s Abortion Performance Refusal Act that allows doctors and hospitals to refuse to perform abortion procedures on the grounds of moral objections.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren

Pritzker hailed the occasion as “a major step forward for every woman in this state” in a statement soon after the votes were counted,. After the measure first passed in the House, he urged his Democratic majority in the Senate to “take swift action.”

In passing the House by a final vote of 64-50, SB 25 had the backing of several female lawmakers in Springfield, among them state Reps. Katie Stuart (D-Edwardsville), Karina Villa (D-West Chicago), Mary Edly-Allen (D-Libertyville), Joyce Mason (D-Gurnee), Diane Pappas (D-Itasca) and Terra Costa Howard (D-Lombard).