On the fourth anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down Roe v. Wade, Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday will sign the latest legislation bolstering Illinois’ status as a haven for abortion care in the Midwest.
The measure passed by the General Assembly last month will shield patients’ abortion-related digital medical records from access by outside authorities who have sometimes used them to pursue criminal cases in states where the procedure has been outlawed.
“Since Roe was overturned, we’ve seen women’s lives endangered by draconian measures limiting reproductive freedom across the country,” Pritzker said in a statement. “The state of Illinois will always stand up for women’s reproductive freedom while aggressively rejecting anti-woman, anti-choice policies. I’m proud to sign the Reproductive Health Records Privacy Act — which represents another step forward in protecting reproductive freedom.”
The legislation, spearheaded by state Sen. Celina Villanueva, D-Chicago, and state Rep. Mary Beth Canty, D-Arlington Heights; limits access to medical record systems containing abortion-related information. Data won’t be allowed to be shared across state lines without the patient’s consent unless it’s for technical support, quality assurance or billing purposes, according to the bill.
Any information on abortion services will be required to be segregated from the rest of a patient’s medical record, which will have access disabled to out-of-state entities.
If the new privacy safeguards are violated, patients would be able to sue. Health information exchanges will be required to implement the changes by July 2027.
“The surest way Illinois can protect our residents and their reproductive records is by requiring health information exchanges to implement new policies that keep sensitive information out of bad actors’ hands,” Villanueva said in a statement. “Time and time again, since 2022 when Roe v. Wade was overturned, we have heard the stories of women across the United States living in fear after seeking abortion-related health care. We have a duty to ensure Illinoisans aren’t being persecuted just because their health records ended up in the wrong hands.”
Separately on Wednesday, the Illinois Department of Public Health was set to issue an updated standing order giving pharmacists more leeway to provide prescription birth control methods directly to residents, including all forms of self-administered prescription contraception.
Aside from Michigan and Minnesota, Illinois is the only Midwest state with abortion protections enshrined into state law, and it’s the closest to southern states where the procedure has been banned across the board.
Planned Parenthood of Illinois has seen a 48% increase in patients seeking abortion care since the Dobbs decision, with one in four patients traveling from another state, according to the organization. Telehealth visits have more than tripled.
“Attacks on essential health care only cause confusion and fear, which is why we must remain a consistent provider of the full spectrum of care,” Dr. Katie Sisco, chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood of Illinois, said in a statement. “The need for affordable, trusted health care is not going away, and neither are we.”