* SB1909 synopsis…
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.
The bill was signed into law yesterday.
* Tribune…
Anti-abortion pregnancy centers can be penalized by the Illinois attorney general if they use deceptive practices or misinformation to interfere with patients seeking abortion care under a measure Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law Thursday.
“Women need access to comprehensive, fact-based health care when making critical decision(s) about their own health — not manipulation or misinformation from politically motivated, nonmedical actors,” Pritzker said in a statement after he signed the bill.
Under the law, clinics are subject to injunctive action and a financial penalty of up to $50,000 under the state’s Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act if they are found to be dissuading “pregnant persons from considering abortion care through deceptive, fraudulent, and misleading information and practices.”
The bill signing was quickly followed by a federal lawsuit from the conservative Chicago nonprofit law firm Thomas More Society that argued the new law infringes on individuals’ First Amendment rights.
The lawsuit is here.
* Effingham Radio…
Peter Breen, Thomas More Society Executive Vice President and Head of Litigation, a former Illinois legislator, spoke about the federal lawsuit just filed against the state, following the governor’s signature of SB 1909, which enacted the discriminatory law.
“This is a blatant attempt to chill and silence pro-life speech under the guise of consumer protections,” explained Breen. “Pregnancy help ministries provide real options and assistance to women and families in need, but instead of the praise they deserve, pro-abortion-rights politicians are targeting these ministries with $50,000 fines and injunctions solely because of their pro-life viewpoint.”
The Thomas More Society filed this afternoon in federal court seeking a Temporary Restraining Order and a Preliminary Injunction. NIFLA v. Raoul, case no. 23-50297, is now pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Western Division. The Thomas More Society is seeking to prevent the law from being enforced while the case makes its way through the court system.
* Crain’s…
Planned Parenthood Illinois President Jennifer Welch said in a press conference Thursday afternoon, in which Raoul and elected representatives also spoke, that the new law is aimed at stopping pro-life pregnancy centers, some that do not provide medical care, from deceiving women with false claims like “abortion causes breast cancer” and “abortion will make you infertile” and from giving false medical information to women about the status of their pregnancy.
The name of the game for deceptive pro-life organizations is to try to stop people from going into Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers, Welch said, trying to redirect them to their centers and trying to delay them from their appointments, and from receiving abortions.
Raoul decried the stories he said he had heard of pro-life centers deceiving patients that they were part of existing abortion clinics and removing them from near an abortion clinic to delay them from entering the clinic they intended on entering.
* ABC Chicago…
The attorney general said it’s not about restricting speech.
“You’re not free to lie to people, or to use deceptive practices,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said.
Clinic supporters see the law as attempting to effectively shut down clinics and anti-abortion dissent.
The new law is effective immediately, but the legal challenge could block enforcement while the case winds through the courts. The attorney general expressed confidence it will be upheld.
* AP…
Ralph Rivera, legislative chairman for Right to Life, was relieved to hear of the quick court action seeking a halt to the law. He maintains it not only chills free speech, is too vague in spelling out what the state might consider a violation. During debate on the House floor in May, Republicans pounded the bill’s sponsor for specifics and to each question, she responded that action would be at the attorney general’s discretion.
“These centers are scared,” Rivera said. “They don’t know if they’ve crossed the line and the attorney general will take them to court and demand all their records, a list of all their donors,” Rivera said.
The pregnancy centers have won in court before. A 2016 law requiring them to provide information on where clients could get an abortion was halted by a federal appeals court and still awaits trial court argument. But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2018 that a similar law in California was unconstitutional.
* Related…
* KHQA | Illinois law bans pro-life pregnancy centers from ‘deceptive practices’: The Deceptive Practices of Limited Services Pregnancy Centers Act, or SB 1909, bars crisis pregnancy centers from using “misinformation, deceptive practices, or misrepresentation in order to interfere with access to abortion services or emergency contraception.”
* AG Kwame Raoul | To stop abortions, 19 GOP attorneys general want access to women’s medical information. They won’t get it from Illinois: We know that patients are traveling to our state for care, and Illinois providers and support networks have stepped up to serve this influx of patients from other states. Since the fall of Roe v. Wade, Planned Parenthood of Illinois has seen a 54% increase in abortion patients, and nearly 25% of their patients traveled from another state, compared with 7% before the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. My role as attorney general is to use the tools I have to protect medical providers and support networks and their patients who seek lawful health care in Illinois.
* Politico | Ohio’s special election has become a proxy war over abortion rights: The push to pass Issue 1 is widely seen as an attempt by Republicans in the state to effectively block a separate initiative for abortion rights that is set to be considered this November. As such, it’s prompting a massive arms raise between heavy-hitting groups on each side of the debate
* Columbus Dispatch | Who’s funding the Ohio Issue 1 campaigns? Donors from Illinois, D.C. and California: An Illinois billionaire dropped another $4 million into the fight over whether it should be harder to amend Ohio’s Constitution, new campaign filings show. But the donations from shipping supply magnate Richard Uihlein aren’t the only out-of-state money flowing ahead of the Aug. 8 special election. The campaigns for and against Issue 1 are relying heavily on donors from California to Washington, D.C. as they blast the influence of special interests on Ohio politics.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Jul 28, 23 @ 10:23 am:
===This is a blatant attempt to chill and silence pro-life speech===
Mr. Breen,
Women aren’t looking to get lectured by your speech.
Claiming it’s about speech and not health care is all you need to know.
Men, women, when seeking healthcare, odds are “speech” isn’t the criteria as part of that search.
- H-W - Friday, Jul 28, 23 @ 10:30 am:
Dear Thomas More followers
Just tell the truth. If you want to offer to help people keep their babies, fine. Offer. But if they ask about abortion as an option, just tell the truth. Let them know where they can get that information.
But as the good book says, “the truth shall set you free.” I know, it is a different context (John 8:32). But it is still a prescription for telling the truth in all things.
- Ron Burgundy - Friday, Jul 28, 23 @ 10:31 am:
Demanding that these centers and the people that work at them be truthful in their dealings with the women they encounter does not hinder free speech. As many are religiously based anyway, being truthful and not lying shouldn’t be an issue. Should it?
- Ron Burgundy - Friday, Jul 28, 23 @ 10:33 am:
-But if they ask about abortion as an option, just tell the truth. Let them know where they can get that information.-
That might not hold up in court. But their having to be truthful and saying we don’t do that here if asked and not preventing the woman from leaving certainly is defensible.
- Excitable Boy - Friday, Jul 28, 23 @ 10:36 am:
Free speech doesn’t include giving a woman a fake ultrasound and then showing her a phony picture. That’s fraud, pure and simple.
- stateandlake - Friday, Jul 28, 23 @ 10:39 am:
==“These centers are scared,” Rivera said. “They don’t know if they’ve crossed the line and the attorney general will take them to court and demand all their records==
Kinda like health care providers in states with stringent anti-abortion laws….
- Annonin' - Friday, Jul 28, 23 @ 10:40 am:
New law seems like a very good idea
- Stephanie Kollmann - Friday, Jul 28, 23 @ 10:44 am:
At some point one might think it would get too embarrassing to claim fraud and deception are an important part of religious speech, but no.
- Excitable Boy - Friday, Jul 28, 23 @ 10:49 am:
- “They don’t know if they’ve crossed the line and the attorney general will take them to court -
I go about my work and life every day never wondering whether I crossed a line that may get me taken to court. It’s because I don’t lie or commit fraudulent acts, you should give it a try.
- Larry Bowa Jr. - Friday, Jul 28, 23 @ 10:54 am:
“Pregnancy help ministries”
The phrase gives the game away. Pregnant women don’t need vacuous religious hectoring, they need medical care and support.
- TheInvisibleMan - Friday, Jul 28, 23 @ 11:05 am:
–being truthful and not lying shouldn’t be an issue. Should it?–
Should it?
The story in Exodus 2 is a popular one with the pro-life crowd. It justifies lying to save the life of a newborn.
Granted, one would have to ignore the massive content in the rest of the bible condemning lying, but you know… contradictions and all.
- Pot calling kettle - Friday, Jul 28, 23 @ 11:07 am:
==At some point one might think it would get too embarrassing to claim fraud and deception are an important part of religious speech, but no. ==
Indeed. Here are a few of the citations from the book these folks claim to follow:
Ex. 20:16 “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.”
Ex. 23:1 “Thou shalt not raise a false report”
Lv. 19:11 “Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another.”
Mt. 19:18 “…Jesus said…Thou shalt not bear false witness…”
There’s a lot more. It seems to be a theme in that book.
If they claim religious speech in court, the defenders of the law should include a few citations from the religious document the CPC folks claim to follow.
- Jocko - Friday, Jul 28, 23 @ 11:13 am:
==Pregnancy help ministries provide real options and assistance==
While avoiding those pesky licensure requirements, medical ethics rules, or standards of care
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Jul 28, 23 @ 11:15 am:
Religious Crusaders is another term for Grifting Specialists.
They don’t know the law, but they can take “donations” via Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay… they know how to get cash…
- walker - Friday, Jul 28, 23 @ 11:42 am:
Don’t commit fraud, stay open. Easy.
Feel free to play victim forever, advocates.
- clec dcn - Friday, Jul 28, 23 @ 11:43 am:
Medical help for unborn children is a good thing for sure. I would hope options remain open for those mothers who do not know what to do and are lost in the process. A bad decision can leave a woman with a life problem of guilt. I think going through all the other options is not deception and hope that does not happen.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Jul 28, 23 @ 11:46 am:
===think going through all the other options is not deception and hope that does not happen.===
Ask yourself, if these places feel/know they can’t do what they “want”, what exactly were they doing?
- Dotnonymous x - Friday, Jul 28, 23 @ 12:38 pm:
They claim to be pro-life…when, in fact, they are simply pro-control.
- Pot calling kettle - Friday, Jul 28, 23 @ 1:31 pm:
==I think going through all the other options is not deception and hope that does not happen. ==
This is not about “going through all the other options.” It is about well documented deceptive practices that can have serious negative medical consequences.
“Contrary to the claim that many CPCs make that they provide comprehensive services and offer women “all options,” most of these centers do not provide comprehensive women’s reproductive health care, abortion care, or referrals for abortion [1, 3]. For example, CPCs tend to avoid discussion of contraception and dismiss the role of condoms in preventing sexually transmitted infections [24].” https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/why-crisis-pregnancy-centers-are-legal-unethical/2018-03
additional cites:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/talking-about-trauma/201602/crisis-pregnancy-centers-traumatize-women-through-deception
https://www.acog.org/advocacy/abortion-is-essential/trending-issues/issue-brief-crisis-pregnancy-centers
- cermak_rd - Friday, Jul 28, 23 @ 1:45 pm:
somewhere there is a woman who is discovering the clinician that convinced her to give birth to her child lied to her. In the best case, she loves the child and is happy to have made that decision. In the worst case, Yikes!
- Jibba - Friday, Jul 28, 23 @ 2:19 pm:
I am very much in favor of highly regulating these places, but I’m afraid that they will have a good argument over free speech issues, especially with the current Supreme Court. We’re better off regulating them to death in the same manner that Planned Parenthood is being shut down in red states. Such as requiring licenses, medically licensed staff, ethics rules, etc. And a few sting operations to close them after actual lies and deception.
- unafraid - Friday, Jul 28, 23 @ 2:56 pm:
I have always been a stronger supporter of abortion rights- very strong. Indeed I would never question a woman’s right to have an abortion for reason. But this is just a blatant attempt to muzzle any one or organization that believes otherwise.
I find it repugnant.
- TooManyJens - Friday, Jul 28, 23 @ 3:19 pm:
I am 100% on board with the requirement to be honest and noncoercive. (Also emergency contraception isn’t even abortion but you just can’t tell people that, I’ve tried for years.)
I’ve talked to people who have worked in crisis pregnancy centers who genuinely just wanted to help connect women with the resources they need. And those folks, the good people who worked in honest centers, were as angry as anyone with centers that were dishonest and/or ignorant. They were also disgusted by Republican politicians who claim to be “pro-life” and then want to cut funding for the same programs those women need.
It’s better for everyone to get rid of dishonest people and let people who just want to help, help.
- Jocko - Friday, Jul 28, 23 @ 3:33 pm:
==this is just a blatant attempt to muzzle==
No one is being muzzled, they simply face consequences for being deceptive…like Peter Breen calling CPCs a “Pregnancy help ministry” or Ralph Rivera calling it a “sacred center”. Heck, Susan Barrett calls it “Aid for Women”. Funny how all three people seem to have forgotten the term.