* Sun-Times…

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 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. […]

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.

* More…

* Daily Herald | Four years after Roe’s reversal, Illinois still a destination for women seeking abortion care: Thirteen states prohibit abortion and 10 have restrictions banning the procedure starting anywhere from six to 22 weeks into a pregnancy, according to KFF, a nonprofit health policy organization. Abortion is outright banned in Indiana and prohibited after six weeks of pregnancy in Iowa. About 155,000 individuals left their home states for abortion care in 2024, and 35,470 of them came to Illinois, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research institution.

* Capitol News Illinois | Illinois’ abortion landscape continues to evolve amid persistent growth in demand: The Chicago Abortion Fund, which provides financial, logistical and material assistance to abortion seekers, is the largest of its kind in the nation. Since June 2022, the fund has assisted more than 60,000 callers and distributed more than $25 million in direct support. In 2025, about 13,760 people, or 43% of the nearly 32,000 people who came to Illinois from out-of-state, were given direct support from the fund, an increase from the 28% of callers who received that level of support in 2024, according to data released by the group.

* KFF Health News | Despite state bans, abortions have almost doubled. The reason? Pills via telehealth: But because medication abortion is now the most common form of abortion in the U.S., restricting mifepristone would have a wide impact even in states without abortion bans. “Stopping the FDA’s unlawful mail-order mifepristone scheme will surely decrease the number of chemical abortions across the country,” said Gabriella McIntyre, a lawyer for Alliance Defending Freedom, which partnered with Louisiana in its suit.

* Pritzker campaign…

“Four years ago, American women lost their constitutional right to an abortion after Donald Trump’s Supreme Court justices did what he hand-picked them to do: overturn Roe v. Wade.

“With abortion rights under assault across the country, I have fought to make Illinois a safe haven for women seeking care. That is because I believe that a woman’s right to control her own body should not be a matter of debate. And I believe that when a woman makes the decision to seek an abortion, she should be met with dignity, empathy, and compassion.

“My opponent, Darren Bailey, does not share those values. He has compared abortion to the Holocaust, celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and recently said there was nobody ‘more pro-life’ than him. As a legislator, he opposed the law that protected a woman’s right to choose in Illinois. When we passed that law, he led the failed attempt to repeal it. Darren Bailey is an anti-choice extremist. He cannot be trusted.

“Let this anniversary serve as a call to action. We need to codify the right to an abortion into federal law. Until then, I will do everything I can to make sure that Illinois remains a beacon of freedom for abortion rights.”

…Adding… Bailey…

JB wants this race to be about a made-up culture war.

I want it to be about why Illinois families can't afford to stay in Illinois.

That's the conversation he's desperate to avoid. pic.twitter.com/gM3yx7yFch

— Darren Bailey (@DarrenBaileyIL) June 24, 2026

“Made-up”?

…Adding… From the governor’s press release…

With Governor Pritzker’s signature, the Reproductive Health Records Privacy Act cements Illinois’ status as a safe haven for comprehensive healthcare access and patient privacy. The bill goes into effect July 1, 2027. The legislation will:

1. Prohibit entities that maintain or facilitate the transfer of health information, including health information exchanges and electronic health vendors, from sharing sensitive medical information across state lines.
2. Require these entities to develop and enable the following features to protect patient privacy:
3. Separate sensitive medical information from the rest of the patient’s record.
4. Limit user access to sensitive medical information.
5. Automatically disable access of sensitive medical information to people and entities outside of the state.