Gov. JB Pritzker talks about the next fight for abortion rights

Think Big America, Gov. JB Pritzker's abortion rights group, brought together a panel of reproductive rights policy leaders in Chicago on Wednesday to push the message that protections need to start at the state level.

Why it matters: Illinois has become an abortion haven for patients and providers as rights are severely restricted or banned in all of Illinois' neighboring states.

• 37,000 people traveled from out-of-state to Illinois for abortions in 2023.

Driving the news: The governor and others on the panel celebrated a Democratic presidential ticket that openly talks about the need for more protective laws since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022. Other panelists included:

• Kelly Hall — executive director, the Fairness Project
• Mini Timmaraju — president and CEO, Reproductive Freedom for All
• Alexis McGill Johnson — president & CEO, Planned Parenthood Action Fund
• Sarah Garza Resnick — executive director, Personal PAC

Yes, but: Critics point out that some of the legislative "wins" that activists laud in states like Ohio and Missouri, where abortion access is on the ballot in November, come with restrictions such as viability limits and rallying for a "return to Roe" is the wrong message.

What they're saying: Pritzker seems to agree that's not the best path. "We need to evolve, because Roe was great for 50 years," Pritzker said. "But remember, rights were diminishing over those 50 years, because the court was diminishing them."

Between the lines: Pritzker and others pushed back on the idea that abortion is a niche issue that only affects one part of the electorate.

• "Now they're hearing about ectopic pregnancies, where people are dying or their doctor won't perform a procedure on them because they might go to prison if they do, and that directly affects a vastly larger number of people, and the message has gotten to people," Pritzker told reporters.
• The governor pointed out that his 21-year-old daughter has fewer reproductive rights than his late mother had.

Zoom in: Garza Resnick told Axios that Illinois was prepared for the influx of out-of-state patients.

• "We knew that it was very likely that Roe would fall one day. Illinois was always a recipient of medical refugees from other states. We don't have wait periods. We don't have unnecessary, medically unsound ultrasounds being done on people. "
• The Personal PAC leader says her group works on the local level by teaming up with organizations like the Chicago Abortion Fund to help provide money for patients who need to travel to Illinois for care.