Today, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker announced that he is launching a new national political group to protect reproductive rights and access to abortion healthcare. This is tremendous news.
The effort - which will be known as Think Big America - will support ballot initiatives that enshrine reproductive rights in state laws and constitutions. Their initial announcement focuses on three states that have ballot initiatives in the works: Arizona, Nevada and Ohio.
Ballot initiatives are a promising route to re-establishing the right to abortion in many states, particularly those that are “purple” swing states.
Project 50’s committment to building reproductive rights-focused political organizations in every state complements Governor Pritzker’s initiative since the constitutions of 24 states do not allow voter-initiated amendments, and 11 of these already ban abortion.
Governor Pritzker’s relentless work on behalf of reproductive rights demonstrates his clear-eyed understanding of the extremism of the movement to eliminate these rights. Just weeks after 59% of Kansas voters rejected an anti-abortion constitutional amendment in 2022, abortion opponents in the state legislature introduced multiple bills curbing abortion access. HB2181 sought to abolish abortion entirely.
We’ve kept his team in the loop regarding Project 50 since our inception, and we’ve been impressed by the priority they are placing on re-establishing reproductive rights across the country.
We could not be more grateful for Governor Prizker’s leadership and know it will produce results.
