Pritzker says Republicans are limiting women's choice of freedom after ruling in Alabama

On the heels of an Alabama Supreme Court ruling defining frozen embryos as people, Gov. JB Pritzker is open to legislation that further protects access to in vitro fertilization in Illinois.

The ruling in Alabama could lead to criminal charges for doctors that botch IVF procedures in the state has led to several hospitals putting a pause on the procedure as a result.

It has no bearing on Illinois law, where IVF facilities operate throughout the state.

Still, Pritzker believes the decision is part of a broader, Republican-led push to "limit the freedoms that women have to make choices for themselves."

More: Pritzker’s budget proposal calls for child tax credit, elimination of grocery tax

"We talked about the reversal of Roe v Wade, people thought this was only about abortion rights only. It's about so much more," Pritzker said at an unrelated event in Chicago Monday. "They want to take away your right to contraception. They want to take away your right to IVF."

Former President Donald Trump and some Republicans in Washington, however, have called for IVF to be protected. Despite these claims, U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., said any real support for federal protections from GOP is legislators lacking.

The junior senator is leading a bill that would establish federal protections for the procedure.

As she told Martha Raddatz in an ABC “This Week” interview on Sunday, Republican support of her legislation has been "crickets" since the Alabama ruling.

“Let’s make it clear, Republicans will say whatever they need to say to try to cover themselves on this, but they’ve been clear, and Donald Trump has been the guy leading this effort to eliminate women’s reproductive rights and reproductive choice,” she said, herself using IVF to have her two daughters.

Back in Springfield, Democrats are also pushing legislation which would require health insurance companies to cover expenses for standard fertility preservation and follow-up services, which they say will lower costs for IVF procedures.

A law going into earlier this year also permits victims of fertility fraud to seek action against healthcare providers who use reproductive material without their consent.

Following his State of the State and budget address last week, Pritzker travelled to Nevada over the weekend, where he is backing a ballot initiative that would codify abortion into its state constitution.

The visit was part of the Think Big America initiative launched and solely funded by the governor last fall, already seeing success in Ohio. Last year, the non-profit contributed $1 million to the Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom PAC according to The Chicago Sun-Times.

Contact Patrick M. Keck: 312-549-9340, pkeck@gannett.com, twitter.com/@pkeckreporter.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Pritzker takes abortion rights campaign to Las Vegas