In a year in which reproductive rights are a top issue for voters, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is endorsing Democrat Eric Sorensen for Congress to help in the pro-choice fight. 

Standing in the Rock Island County Democratic Headquarters in downtown Rock Island on Tuesday, Pritzker said Illinois has “worked tirelessly” over the past few years to further protect a woman’s right to choose and that he endorses Sorensen for Congress, saying he will work to further protect those rights. 

“Eric is on our side, fighting for our shared values and working against Republican efforts to take away women’s rights,” Pritzker said. 

After the overturn of the nearly 50-year-old precedent of Roe v. Wade this summer, multiple states enacted or had abortion bans and restrictions go into effect. 

But Illinois has taken steps to further protect abortion rights by repealing the Parental Notification Act in December 2021, which required doctors to notify a pregnant minor’s parent within 48 hours prior to an abortion procedure. Lawmakers also passed the Reproductive Health Act in 2019, which gives each person the fundamental right to make individual decisions about their reproductive health.

Sorensen said if elected he will make sure that women in Illinois will continue to have the right to make their own health care decisions and that barriers to reproductive health care should be lowered, not banned. 

“Make no mistake, reproductive care is health care,” Sorensen said. 

Pritzker said Illinois is looking to further protect reproductive healthcare, saying that the general assembly has been meeting with working groups to see how Illinois can protect women who come from other states for abortion and protect doctors from being jailed if they go from Illinois to another state to perform an abortion. 

Sorensen is a former meteorologist and first-time candidate who is running against Republican Esther Joy King, both hoping to replace outgoing Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Moline, who has held the seat for a decade. 

King said during a debate with Sorensen that she is pro-life, but she does support rare exceptions to abortion bans.