Abortion moves to center stage in Illinois; In Georgia, not so much
By Tom Baxter
The big difference you see this year in political ads in Georgia and Illinois is the way they engage the issue of abortion.
Abortion is front and center in Illinois as that state closes in on its June 28 primary. In an ad that was getting frequent airtime in Chicago last week, Republican gubernatorial candidate Jesse Sullivan, seated next to his wife in the pew of a church, accuses Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker of using tax dollars to turn Illinois into “the abortion capital of the Midwest.”
“I will never apologize for my faith, and I will always fight for life,” Sullivan says.
The setting for an ad by Democratic secretary of state candidate Anna Valencia is a doctor’s office, where she accuses her primary rival, Alexi Giannoulias, of having supported an anti-choice candidate.
“After 50 years, a woman’s right to choose is being torn away,” Valencia says.
I haven’t seen all the ads that have aired in Georgia this year, but I don’t recall one in which abortion has been mentioned, much less given the prominence it has in Illinois.
It’s not that abortion isn’t an issue in Georgia. The annual pro-life rally on the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision draws huge crowds to the Capitol most years, and pro-choice groups raise a lot of money in Metro Atlanta. But when political strategists place their bets on which issues will move voters in Georgia, they haven’t put their ad money on abortion. Not yet, at least.
The immediate reason for the emphasis on abortion in Illinois is Pritzker’s pledge to keep abortion legal for both residents and non-residents who come to the state, which has been a lightning rod for both sides.
“The terrifying implications of this decision and what it means for millions of women across the country cannot be understated,” Pritzker said shortly after a draft Supreme Court decision overturning Roe was leaked last month. “But let me be clear: no matter what atrocity of an opinion the Supreme Court officially rolls out this summer in regards to Roe versus Wade — abortion will always be safe and legal here in Illinois.”
There may be more fundamental reasons as well. Illinois has a higher percentage of Roman Catholic residents than Louisiana. It’s much higher than Georgia, although this state has one of the fastest-growing Catholic populations in the country. Evangelical Protestants may be as fervently anti-abortion as conservative Catholics today, but this wasn’t the case before Roe v. Wade. Organized resistance to abortion has much deeper roots in the Catholic Church.
Illinois is also one of the nation’s bluest states, which is a perfect combination pushing abortion to the forefront this political season. While other states, including Georgia, have enacted more restrictive abortion laws, Illinois has moved in the opposite direction. In 2019 the state overturned a 1975 law that banned abortions after 12 weeks. A new law went into effect this month which repeals a 1995 parental notification law. Doctors can now perform an abortion on a minor without notifying parents.
With the court’s decision Friday to overturn Roe v. Wade, the ads we see could change dramatically. In Georgia, we’ll probably see abortion figure much more in the ads leading up to the general election in November. It’s likely to be an even hotter issue than it already is in Illinois. After the decision which proceeded it on Thursday, we’re also likely to be seeing a lot more guns on every commercial break.
