Illinois Legislature Abortion Law: Voting Breakdown

The topic of abortion in Illinois has been a highly contested issue, with the state legislature voting on various bills and laws over the years that have significantly impacted abortion access and reproductive rights in the state. Illinois has a long history of abortion-related legislation, dating back to the early 1800s, and the debate continues to evolve as social and political perspectives change. The state's abortion laws have undergone several revisions, with the most recent updates occurring in 2019 and 2023, aiming to protect abortion rights and access.

Illinois' abortion rights legislation

Illinois has a history of abortion laws dating back to the early 1800s. The state imposed the first criminal penalties related to abortion in 1827 and made abortion illegal in 1867. In 1973, the US Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision meant that Illinois could no longer regulate abortion before foetal viability. In response, the state passed a number of restrictions on abortion, many of which have since been repealed.

In 2019, Illinois updated its abortion laws, enacting comprehensive abortion rights legislation. The Illinois Reproductive Health Act provides statutory protections for abortions and states that women have the "fundamental right" to access abortion services. The Act also rescinds previous legislation that banned some late-term abortions and made performing such abortions a criminal offence.

In January 2023, Illinois enacted an interstate shield law to protect providers, patients, and those who help others access abortion and gender-affirming care from legal consequences and out-of-state investigations. The state also repealed its pre-Roe ban, ensuring that abortion remains legal in Illinois.

Illinois law prohibits abortion after foetal viability and has reporting requirements for abortion procedures. The state provides public funding for medically necessary abortions and requires private insurance plans to cover abortion care. Additionally, Illinois law authorises physicians and certain advanced practice clinicians to provide abortion care within their scope of practice.

Illinois has seen a decline in the number of abortion clinics over the years, with 24 clinics in the state in 2014, down from 58 in 1982. The state has become an abortion access state for people in the South and Midwest impacted by abortion bans in their states, with a significant increase in out-of-state patients seeking abortion care.

The Illinois Reproductive Health Act

The IRHA states that women have the "fundamental right" to access abortion services, and that a "fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent rights". The Act also expands access to reproductive health care by broadening the scope of care certain health care professionals can provide and ensuring insurance coverage for necessary care. For example, under the Act, Advanced Practice Registered Nurses and Physicians Assistants can provide scope-appropriate abortion care. It also allows birth centres to provide broad-spectrum reproductive health care in addition to their current offerings to pregnant people and new parents.

The Act also strengthens protections for families using assisted reproductive treatments like IVF or surrogacy. The Act adds "assisted reproduction" to the definition of reproductive health care protected under the Reproductive Health Act (RHA), which Governor Pritzker signed into law in 2019. The RHA guaranteed private insurance coverage for abortion services and reaffirmed Illinoisans' right to essential reproductive care.

In January 2023, Governor Pritzker signed HB4664, a reproductive rights and gender-affirming care omnibus bill that protects health care providers and their patients from legal attacks by neighbouring states and expands health care access and options across the state. The bill also shields individuals from civil and criminal discovery from other states, and extraditions related to providing reproductive health care.

The Illinois Abortion Law of 1975

In 2017, the 100th General Assembly repealed the trigger law component of the Illinois Abortion Law of 1975, affirming that abortion would remain legal in Illinois even if Roe v. Wade was overturned. This legislation, known as House Bill 40, was signed into law by Republican Governor Bruce Rauner. It also provided for abortion to be covered under Medicaid and state employee health insurance.

The Parental Notice of Abortion Act

The Act mandated that a healthcare provider notify an "adult family member" of any patient under 18, 48 hours in advance of providing an abortion. The adult could only be a parent, grandparent, step-parent who lived with the minor, or a legal guardian. If a young person was unable or unwilling to notify a parent, they could request a judge to waive the notice requirement through a "judicial bypass" process.

The judicial bypass process could be stressful and put the confidentiality and safety of the young person at risk. Critics argued that the Parental Notice of Abortion Act violated the human rights of minors, undermined their safety, health, and dignity, and served no valid purpose. They also highlighted the potential for abuse, humiliation, and punishment by unsupportive parents.

In fall 2021, the Illinois General Assembly passed a bill to repeal the Parental Notice of Abortion Act, which was signed into law by Governor Pritzker on December 17, 2021. As a result, as of June 1, 2022, Illinois no longer requires minors to notify a parent or guardian before obtaining an abortion.

The Deceptive Practices Related to Limited Services Pregnancy Centers Act

In July 2023, the state of Illinois enacted the Deceptive Practices Related to Limited Services Pregnancy Centers Act, which prohibits anti-abortion centres from using deception to interfere with a person seeking access to abortion. The act amends the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, prohibiting limited services pregnancy centres from engaging in unfair methods of competition or unfair or deceptive acts or practices.

The act prohibits limited services pregnancy centres from using deception, fraud, false pretence, false promise, or misrepresentation, or the concealment, suppression, or omission of any material fact, with the intent that others rely on this to:

• Interfere with an individual seeking to gain entry or access to a provider of abortion or emergency contraception
• Induce an individual to enter or access the limited services pregnancy centre
• Engage in advertising, soliciting, or otherwise offering pregnancy-related services
• Conduct, provide, or perform pregnancy-related services

The act allows the Attorney General to enforce the act when:

• It appears to the Attorney General that a limited services pregnancy centre has engaged in, is engaging in, or is about to engage in any practice declared unlawful by the act
• The Attorney General receives a written complaint of the commission of a practice declared unlawful under the act
• The Attorney General believes it to be in the public interest that an investigation should be made to ascertain whether a limited services pregnancy centre has engaged in, is engaging in, or is about to engage in, any practice declared unlawful by the act

The act establishes the remedies available for violation of the act, including preliminary or permanent injunction and a civil penalty not to exceed $50,000. It also allows any party aggrieved by a violation of the act to bring an action against any limited services pregnancy centre that has committed such a violation, in which the court may award actual damages and any other relief the court deems proper.

The act was sponsored by a large number of senators and representatives, including Terra Costa Howard, Dagmara Avelar, Jennifer Welch, and Governor JB Pritzker, who signed the act into law.

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