Illinois abortion advocates continue their press to create an abortion oasis in the state by pushing for passage of Senate Bill 1909, titled “Deceptive Practices of Limited Services Pregnancy Centers Act.” Meanwhile, pro-life advocates refer to the contentious bill as the “Forced Abortion Information Act.” The bill easily passed in the state Senate. Now headed to the House for a vote as early as the first week of May, over 17,000 pro-life supporters have registered legislative witness slips in opposition.
“Abortion advocates in the Illinois legislature demand that women have ‘choice’,” Mary Kate Zander said in a media release, “but all they’re accomplishing with this bill is eliminating women’s legitimate choices.” Zander, the Illinois Right to Life (IRL) Executive Director, said, “This bill is written to target pro-life pregnancy resource centers and carve out even more protections for abortion providers. It is a shameful display of politics at the expense of Illinois women.”
The bill’s proponents say it would force pro-life pregnancy centers to make abortion referrals and give the State Attorney General wide authority to initiate complaints against pregnancy resource centers deemed in accordance with the “public interest” with fines of up to $50,000.
Molly Malone, assistant legislative chair of IRL, told the Illinois Baptist, “The bill would make pregnancy resource centers liable for ‘deceptive acts or practice for any concealment, suppression, or omission of a material fact.’” She also noted, “This bill would also change the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act to amend it to include specifically pregnancy resource centers to keep them from using what the bill calls material facts.” There are no guidelines written into the bill to say what or who determines what a deceptive act or material fact is which could lead to litigation.
IRL reports there are about 100 pregnancy resource centers in Illinois that offer alternative to abortion for women with crisis pregnancies, 50 of those centers are within 100 miles of Chicago. Baptist Children’s Home and Family Services (BCHFS), one of three entities forming the Illinois Baptist State Association, operates GraceHaven Pregnancy Resource Clinic in Mt. Vernon. The center offers pregnancy tests, ultrasound imaging, testing for sexually transmitted diseases, and mentoring for women seeking alternatives to abortion.
Abortion proponents claim the highly partisan bill is necessary, alleging that crisis pregnancy resource centers spread false information and fail to adequately train their staff. It passed out of committee in the Senate on March 30 on a 9-4 vote, with 8,942 witness slips on record against the bill and just 2,725 in support of it. The next day, the Senate voted along along party lines with 36 Democrats voting for the bill, 19 Republicans against, and four not voting.
In the House the bill is known as HB 2463 where it passed out of committee on April 25 on a partisan vote of 5-3 with more than 17,000 witness slips filed in opposition to the bill and and nearly 3,000 in support of it. Illinois Right to Life hosted a rally against the bill outside the State Capitol on April 26.
BCHFS Executive Director Kevin Carrothers said he’s been following the bill’s progress, trying to analyze what its effect would be should it pass. Describing the bill’s language as “nebulous” and lacking “clarity,” Carrothers said he believes should it pass, “I think it will ultimately end up in the court system and work its way up. It’s something we continue to be vigilant about and we continue to watch these legislative fronts on both the federal and state level.”
The state of California passed a similar bill, which was overturned in 2018 by the U.S. Supreme Court in NIFLA v. Becerra for its unconstitutional targeting of pregnancy centers. Should SB 1909 pass, it would go into effect immediately, but a court appeal would be expected.
The spring session of the General Assembly has a deadline to pass bills by May 31.