Some Southland legislators and residents reacted harshly Friday to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that overturns the long-standing protections guaranteeing women access to abortions, with several states, including Illinois’ neighbor, Indiana, looking to bar the procedures.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Democratic leaders in the General Assembly, following the high court’s decision, proposed calling lawmakers back to Springfield for a special legislative session to further strengthen the state’s position as a haven for abortion rights.

State Rep. Debbie Meyers-Martin, D-Olympia Fields, said the court’s decision “marks a dark day here in America.”

“The overturning of Roe v. Wade has overwhelming effects on many different facets of society,” she said.

State Sen. Mike Hastings, D-Frankfort, said in a statement after the ruling that he is “disheartened” by the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

“In the year 2022, women should have the right to make their decisions regarding their bodies,” Hastings said.

Meyers-Martin said she is “as energized as ever to fight against this decision and to further protect reproductive rights for women here in Illinois and beyond.”

She said that she agreed with the proposal to call legislators back for a special session.

“I’m in total agreement we need to get back to Springfield and prepare Illinois for whatever might be the brush back from this decision,” she said in a phone interview.

Meyers-Martin said she expected that the General Assembly would, for the most part, have support from lawmakers “for Illinois to maintain our stand on reproductive rights.”Turn to Abortion, Page 4

The draft opinion from Justice Samuel Alito had been leaked in early May, and in the final opinion issued Friday, he wrote that Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the 1992 decision that reaffirmed the right to abortion, were wrong the day they were decided and must be overturned.

“We therefore hold that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion. Roe and Casey must be overruled, and the authority to regulate abortion must be returned to the people and their elected representatives,” Alito wrote.

Joining Alito in the majority opinion were Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.

Some south suburban residents said they were angry the nation’s highest court had overturned the long-standing abortion right.

“I think it is absolutely outrageous and I hope that those people we elect in Washington will do something right away,” Desiree Washington, of Lansing, said Friday outside a Walmart store.

Candace Watkins, of Calumet City, said she had the same viewpoint.

“I don’t agree at all and I’m mad as hell about it,” she said. “A woman’s body is her own and no judges have the right to mess with that.”

In Homewood, a crowd of about 20 people, mostly women, gathered late Friday afternoon in Martin Square as volunteers set up a table with free shirts bearing protest phrases.

Addie Zwick, of Planned Parenthood of Illinois, who was organizing the spur-of-the-moment rally, said the group had been expecting the announcement next week because the Supreme Court usually deals with more momentous decisions toward the end of its sessions. But when the announcement came Friday morning, “we were ready to go and kicked it into gear.”

She expected between 50 and 100 people to come to the “grassroots demonstration to show outrage” about the Supreme Court decision, she said.

Republican Will County Board member Steve Balich, who is also supervisor in Homer Township, noted the township was the first in Illinois to declare itself anti-abortion last fall, and welcomed the court ruling.

“I thought it was about time,” he said, maintaining the right to an abortion is “not explicitly written in the Constitution.”

“Once we start obeying the Constitution the way it was written maybe we wouldn’t have as many problems,” he said.

U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Matteson, said after the court ruling that she is “unspeakably outraged that the Supreme Court has erased 50 years of precedent and openly attacked the rights of women nationwide.”

“This decision will have an extremely detrimental impact on women’s health care, especially in the face of our worsening maternal mortality crisis,” she said in a statement. “More mothers are going to die.”

Although not a likely outcome, action at the Congressional level could potentially codify the right to an abortion in all states, and Kelly said she is “working with my colleagues to determine how we can legislatively protect the right to abortion and protect women’s healthcare.”

Balich said he doesn’t believe there is sufficient support for such an effort.

“My guess is they would have a hard time getting all of the Democrats to agree” to it, he said.

Calvin Jordan, Democratic committeeman in Rich Township as well as township supervisor, said the Supreme Court’s ruling represents “a horrific day” in the nation.

“No government, politician, or man should tell a woman what she can and cannot do with her body,” he said in a statement. “The Supreme Court’s decision is a dark moment for the struggle for women’s liberation and the fight to control their own bodies.”

News editor Paul Eisenberg contributed to this report.

mnolan@tribpub.com