Bill Text: IL SB1909 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Engrossed
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Amends the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. Prohibits a limited services pregnancy center from engaging in unfair methods of competition or unfair or deceptive acts or practices: (1) to interfere with or prevent an individual from seeking to gain entry or access to a provider of abortion or emergency contraception; (2) to induce an individual to enter or access the limited services pregnancy center; (3) in advertising, soliciting, or otherwise offering pregnancy-related services; or (4) in conducting, providing, or performing pregnancy-related services. Defines terms. Sets forth legislative intent. Effective immediately.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 57-0)
Status: (Passed) 2023-07-27 - Public Act . . . . . . . . . 103-0270 [SB1909 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2023-SB1909-Engrossed.html
Bill Title: Amends the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. Prohibits a limited services pregnancy center from engaging in unfair methods of competition or unfair or deceptive acts or practices: (1) to interfere with or prevent an individual from seeking to gain entry or access to a provider of abortion or emergency contraception; (2) to induce an individual to enter or access the limited services pregnancy center; (3) in advertising, soliciting, or otherwise offering pregnancy-related services; or (4) in conducting, providing, or performing pregnancy-related services. Defines terms. Sets forth legislative intent. Effective immediately.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 57-0)
Status: (Passed) 2023-07-27 - Public Act . . . . . . . . . 103-0270 [SB1909 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2023-SB1909-Engrossed.html
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1 | AN ACT concerning civil law.
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2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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4 | Section 1. Legislative intent. The laws and public policy | ||||||
5 | of this State have established the fundamental rights of | ||||||
6 | individuals to make autonomous decisions about their own | ||||||
7 | reproductive health, including the fundamental right to use or | ||||||
8 | refuse reproductive health care. It is also the public policy | ||||||
9 | of the State to ensure that patients receive timely access to | ||||||
10 | information and medically appropriate care and that consumers | ||||||
11 | are protected from deceptive and unfair practices. Despite | ||||||
12 | these laws, vulnerable State residents and nonresidents | ||||||
13 | seeking health care in this State have repeatedly been misled | ||||||
14 | by organizations and their agents purporting to provide | ||||||
15 | comprehensive reproductive health care services, but which, in | ||||||
16 | reality, aim to dissuade pregnant persons from considering | ||||||
17 | abortion care through deceptive, fraudulent, and misleading | ||||||
18 | information and practices, without any regard for a pregnant | ||||||
19 | person's concerns or circumstances. These organizations pay | ||||||
20 | for advertising, including online and on billboards and public | ||||||
21 | transportation, that is intended to attract consumers to their | ||||||
22 | organizations and away from medical providers that offer | ||||||
23 | comprehensive reproductive care. The advertisements and | ||||||
24 | information given by these organizations provide grossly |
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1 | inaccurate or misleading information overstating the risks | ||||||
2 | associated with abortion, including conveying untrue claims | ||||||
3 | that abortion causes cancer or infertility and concealing data | ||||||
4 | that shows the risk of death associated with childbirth is | ||||||
5 | approximately 14 times higher than the risk of death | ||||||
6 | associated with an abortion. This misinformation is intended | ||||||
7 | to cause undue delays and disruption to protected, | ||||||
8 | time-sensitive, reproductive health care services, and the | ||||||
9 | State has an interest in preventing health risks and | ||||||
10 | associated costs caused and compounded by unnecessary delays | ||||||
11 | in obtaining life-changing or life-saving reproductive care. | ||||||
12 | Even when an organization offers free services, all of this | ||||||
13 | activity has a commercial and economic impact on where, when, | ||||||
14 | and how reproductive care is provided. The conduct of these | ||||||
15 | organizations has become increasingly aggressive following the | ||||||
16 | United States Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson | ||||||
17 | Women's Health Organization, 142 S.Ct. 2228 (2022). The State | ||||||
18 | has an interest to protect against deceptive, fraudulent, and | ||||||
19 | misleading advertising and practices that interfere with an | ||||||
20 | individual's ability to make autonomous, informed, and | ||||||
21 | evidence-based decisions about the individual's reproductive | ||||||
22 | health and have timely access to quality reproductive health | ||||||
23 | care that adheres to accepted standards of medical practice or | ||||||
24 | care. The State also has an interest to protect against | ||||||
25 | deceptive and unfair practices affecting trade and commerce, | ||||||
26 | to ensure a free, open, and fair marketplace for all |
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1 | marketplace participants. At the same time, it is the public | ||||||
2 | policy of the State to respect the right to hold and express | ||||||
3 | deeply held beliefs about abortion so long as fraud, | ||||||
4 | deception, and misleading practices are not employed to | ||||||
5 | interfere with or prevent another from accessing comprehensive | ||||||
6 | reproductive health care. It is not the intention of this Act | ||||||
7 | to regulate, limit, or curtail the ability to counsel against | ||||||
8 | abortion if an organization and its agents are otherwise | ||||||
9 | operating in compliance with the law.
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10 | Section 5. The Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business | ||||||
11 | Practices Act is amended by adding Section 2BBBB as follows:
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12 | (815 ILCS 505/2BBBB new) | ||||||
13 | Sec. 2BBBB. Deceptive practices related to limited | ||||||
14 | services pregnancy centers. | ||||||
15 | (a) As used in this Section: | ||||||
16 | "Abortion" means the use of any instrument, medicine, | ||||||
17 | drug, or any other substance or device to terminate the | ||||||
18 | pregnancy of an individual known to be pregnant with an | ||||||
19 | intention other than to increase the probability of a live | ||||||
20 | birth, to preserve the life or health of the child after live | ||||||
21 | birth, or to remove a dead fetus, as defined in Section 1-10 of | ||||||
22 | the Reproductive Health Act. | ||||||
23 | "Affiliates" has the meaning given to the term "hospital | ||||||
24 | affiliate" as defined in subsection (b) of Section 10.8 of the |
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1 | Hospital Licensing Act. | ||||||
2 | "Emergency contraception" means one or more prescription | ||||||
3 | drugs (i) used separately or in combination for the purpose of | ||||||
4 | preventing pregnancy, (ii) administered to or | ||||||
5 | self-administered by a patient within a medically recommended | ||||||
6 | amount of time after sexual intercourse, and (iii) dispensed | ||||||
7 | for such purpose in accordance with professional standards of | ||||||
8 | practice. | ||||||
9 | "Limited services pregnancy center" means an organization | ||||||
10 | or facility, including a mobile facility, that: | ||||||
11 | (1) does not directly provide abortions or provide or | ||||||
12 | prescribe emergency contraception, or provide referrals | ||||||
13 | for abortions or emergency contraception, and has no | ||||||
14 | affiliation with any organization or provider who provides | ||||||
15 | abortions or provides or prescribes emergency | ||||||
16 | contraception; and | ||||||
17 | (2) has a primary purpose to offer or provide | ||||||
18 | pregnancy-related services to an individual who is or has | ||||||
19 | reason to believe the individual may be pregnant, whether | ||||||
20 | or not a fee is charged for such services. | ||||||
21 | "Limited services pregnancy center" does not include: | ||||||
22 | (1) a health care professional licensed by the | ||||||
23 | Department of Financial and Professional Regulation; | ||||||
24 | (2) a hospital licensed under the Hospital Licensing | ||||||
25 | Act and its affiliates; or | ||||||
26 | (3) a hospital licensed under the University of |
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1 | Illinois Hospital Act and its affiliates. | ||||||
2 | "Limited services pregnancy center" includes an organization | ||||||
3 | or facility that has employees, volunteers, or agents who are | ||||||
4 | health care professionals licensed by the Department of | ||||||
5 | Financial and Professional Regulation. | ||||||
6 | "Pregnancy-related services" means any medical service, or | ||||||
7 | health counseling service, related to the prevention, | ||||||
8 | preservation, or termination of pregnancy, including, but not | ||||||
9 | limited to, contraception and contraceptive counseling, | ||||||
10 | pregnancy testing, pregnancy diagnosis, pregnancy options | ||||||
11 | counseling, limited obstetric ultrasound, obstetric | ||||||
12 | ultrasound, obstetric sonogram, sexually transmitted | ||||||
13 | infections testing, and prenatal care. | ||||||
14 | (b) A limited services pregnancy center shall not engage | ||||||
15 | in unfair methods of competition or unfair or deceptive acts | ||||||
16 | or practices, including the use or employment of any | ||||||
17 | deception, fraud, false pretense, false promise, or | ||||||
18 | misrepresentation, or the concealment, suppression, or | ||||||
19 | omission of any material fact, with the intent that others | ||||||
20 | rely upon the concealment, suppression, or omission of such | ||||||
21 | material fact: | ||||||
22 | (1) to interfere with or prevent an individual from | ||||||
23 | seeking to gain entry or access to a provider of abortion | ||||||
24 | or emergency contraception; | ||||||
25 | (2) to induce an individual to enter or access the | ||||||
26 | limited services pregnancy center; |
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1 | (3) in advertising, soliciting, or otherwise offering | ||||||
2 | pregnancy-related services; or | ||||||
3 | (4) in conducting, providing, or performing | ||||||
4 | pregnancy-related services. | ||||||
5 | (c) A violation of this Section constitutes a violation of | ||||||
6 | this Act.
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7 | Section 97. Severability. The provisions of this Act are | ||||||
8 | severable under Section 1.31 of the Statute on Statutes.
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9 | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | ||||||
10 | becoming law.
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