CHICAGO – State Senator Mike Simmons (D-Chicago) released the following statement regarding the Supreme Court decision to overturn the right to an abortion protected under Roe v. Wade. 

“I am furious at this colossal injustice that has just been handed down by the nation’s top court. A generation of reproductive rights are being taken away by an oppressive patriarchal, fundamentalist court that is grievously out of touch with the country. The reproductive rights and health care of millions of people – women of all backgrounds, transgender people, and nonbinary people – are under attack. Today is a shameful day in our country’s history.

“We in Illinois are ready, willing, and able to help those who are seeking abortions receive the necessary and often lifesaving health care that they need. I will fight to ensure Illinois has the resources to provide reproductive health care for the countless medical refugees who will no doubt need to come to our state to receive it. I call on the community, advocacy organizations allied with the reproductive justice movement, and other elected officials to raise your voice and resist. I call on my counterparts in the more than 30 states, where a right to an abortion may be severely curtailed or disappear within weeks, to agitate, protest, and fight tooth and nail in the weeks ahead to hold on to these rights for the millions of people and their families who need access to abortion. We must demonstrate, we must take to the streets, and we must make it clear that we will not allow the Supreme Court to undo hard-won generational rights.