After Roe Fell: U.S. Abortion Laws by State

Expanded Access

Illinois

Abortion will remain legal in Illinois. In 2019, Illinois enacted comprehensive abortion rights legislation. And the Illinois Supreme Court has recognized the right to abortion under the state’s constitution.

State Legal Details

Bans in Effect

  • Gestational Ban, Viability

Restrictions in Effect

  • TRAP requirements: Providers, Reporting Requirement

Restrictions

Illinois law generally prohibits abortion after viability.1

Illinois has reporting requirements.2

State Protections

In 2019, Illinois enacted a statutory protection for abortion as a fundamental right.3 It states:

(a) Every individual has a fundamental right to make autonomous decisions about the individual’s own reproductive health, including the fundamental right to use or refuse reproductive health care. (b) Every individual who becomes pregnant has a fundamental right to continue the pregnancy and give birth or to have an abortion, and to make autonomous decisions about how to exercise that right. (c) A fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent rights under the laws of this State.

Furthermore, the Illinois Supreme Court has held that the due process clause in the state constitution provides protections for abortion equivalent to those provided by the federal due process clause.4 Illinois provides public funding for all or most medically necessary abortions and requires private insurance plans to cover abortion care.5 Illinois law authorizes physicians and certain advance practice clinicians (APCs) to provide abortion care consistent with their scope of practice.6

In January 2023, Illinois enacted an interstate shield law protecting providers, patients, and people who help others access abortion and gender affirming care from licensure consequences and the reach of out-of-state investigations and legal actions. 7 In July, 2023, the state enacted the Deceptive Practices Related to Limited Services Pregnancy Centers Act, which prohibits anti-abortion centers from using deception to interfere with a person seeking access to abortion.8

Post-Roe Prohibitions

Illinois repealed its pre-Roe ban in 1973.9 In 2019, the legislature also repealed language in Illinois law that expressed the desire to prohibit abortion if Roe is overturned.10

Conclusion

Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe, abortion will remain legal in Illinois. In 2019, Illinois enacted comprehensive abortion rights legislation. And the Illinois Supreme Court has recognized the right to abortion under the state’s constitution.

  1. 775 ILL. COMP. STAT. 55/1-25(a). ↩︎
  2. 775 ILL. COMP. STAT. 55/1-25(b); ILL. ADMIN. CODE tit. 77, u00a7 505.40. ↩︎
  3. 775 Ill. COMP. STAT. 55/1-15. ↩︎
  4. Hope Clinic for Women, Ltd. v. Flores, 991 N.E.2d 745, 760 (Ill. 2013). ↩︎
  5. 305 ILL. COMP. STAT. 5/5-5 (restriction on abortion coverage repealed by Pub. Act 100-0538, 2017 Ill. Legis. Serv. P.A. 100-538 (codified in scattered sections of Ill. Comp. Stat.)); 215 ILL. COMP. STAT. ANN. 5/356z.4a. ↩︎
  6. 775 ILL. COMP. STAT. 55/1-25(a). Illinois repealed its physician-only requirement provisions in 2019, see 720 ILL. COMP. STAT. 510/3.1 and 720 ILL. COMP. STAT. 510/2(2), repealed by Pub. Act 100-0013, 2019 Ill. Legis. Serv. P.A. 101-13 (codified in scattered sections of Ill. Comp. Stat.). ↩︎
  7. H.B.u00a04664, 103rd Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (Il. 2023), codified at, e.g., 775 Ill. Comp. Stat. u00a7u00a7 55/1-10 (definitions), 55/1-20 (Prohibited State Actions); 255 Ill. Comp. Stat. u00a7 60/22 (C) (limits medical malpractice disciplinary action). ↩︎
  8. S.B. 1909, 103rd Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (Il. 2023). ↩︎
  9. See 1973 Ill. Laws 692u2013695; see also People v. Frey, 54 Ill. 2d 28, 32, 294 N.E.2d 257, 259 (1973). ↩︎
  10. 720 ILL. COMP. STAT. ANN. 510/1, repealed by Pub. Act 100-0538, 2017 Ill. Legis. Serv. P.A. 100-538 (codified in scattered sections of Ill. Comp. Stat.) ↩︎