Chicago City Wire

A new abortion clinic in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood is advertising “all trimester abortions,” a development that some pro-life advocates say confirms warnings they issued when Illinois passed the Reproductive Health Act in 2019.

Hope Clinic, which recently opened in the city, announced on social media that it is expanding its care “through all trimesters.” The clinic posted on Instagram: “(And OMG we couldn’t be more excited). Everyone deserves access to abortion care, whenever they need it. Because deciding and acting on what’s best for you shouldn’t be on anyone else’s timeline.”

Peter Breen, executive vice president and head of litigation at the Thomas More Society, said the development reflects concerns raised when the Reproductive Health Act was passed and signed by Governor JB Pritzker in 2019.

Peter Breen, Executive Vice President & Head of Litigation at Thomas More Society | https://www.thomasmoresociety.org/attorneys/peter-breen

“The Illinois Reproductive Health Act is intentionally vague and profit-driven abortion providers like Hope Clinic are taking advantage,” Breen told Chicago City Wire. “I warned back in 2019 that Illinois would become a 3rd trimester abortion destination and 6 years later, here we are."

Breen said the law’s language is broad enough that it effectively permits abortion at virtually any point in a pregnancy.

“The fact that an abortion clinic in our home state is now advertising abortions up to 34 weeks is not just deeply troubling—it is a stark reminder of how far some are willing to go to disregard the dignity of human life,” Breen said.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Illinois has seen an increase in out-of-state abortion patients. 

According to the Washington Examiner, about 30% of the more than 56,000 abortions performed in the state last year were for non-residents.

“The governor and the state legislature in 2023 also ushered through legislation that would protect healthcare workers and patients from legal action taken by neighboring states that have criminalized abortion,” the report said.

Roll Call reported that Carbondale, Illinois, a city of 21,000 in southern Illinois, had no abortion providers as recently as 2022. As of August 2024, the city had three clinics, all of which opened following the Supreme Court decision.

“Illinois — the site of this week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where reproductive rights has been a major theme — has emerged as an oasis for those in the abortion rights movement, particularly given bans and ongoing litigation in much of the South and Midwest,” the report said.

A 2019 analysis from the Thomas More Society warned that the Reproductive Health Act would make Illinois “an abortion destination for the country.”

“The bill, as amended, would remove any penalty for performing late-term abortions, allow nurses to perform medication abortions, and eliminate licensing and health and safety inspections of abortion clinics. The bill would strip all rights from unborn children and wipe nearly every abortion regulation off the books in Illinois, subjecting any that remain to a court challenge under a near-impossible-to-meet ‘strict scrutiny’ standard,” the analysis said.