Following a similar federal lawsuit in Vermont, another public interest law firm is suing the state of Illinois over new restrictions on pregnancy resource centers in the state.
The Chicago-based Thomas More Society, representing Rockford Family Initiative in Rockford, Relevant Pregnancy Options Center in Highland, and 1st Way Life Center in Johnsburg, as well as the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, filed the lawsuit July 27 against Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul.
The suit seeks to stop Raoul from enforcing Illinois Senate Bill 1909, which declares both advertising and counseling by the centers, including sidewalk counseling, to be a “deceptive business practice.”
Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed SB 1909 into law on July 27, which the governor’s office stated “bars so-called ‘crisis pregnancy centers’ from using misinformation, deceptive practices, or misrepresentation in order to interfere with access to abortion services or emergency contraception.”
“Women need access to comprehensive, fact-based healthcare when making (a) critical decision about their own health — not manipulation or misinformation from politically motivated, non-medical actors,” Gov. Pritzker said in a July 27 statement. “By empowering the Attorney General’s office to battle deceptive practices, we’re ensuring Illinoisans can make their own decisions about their bodies using accurate and safe information.”
The legal challenge brought forward by the Thomas More Society is slightly broader than a similar lawsuit filed in Vermont by Alliance Defending Freedom. ADF is suing that state over a law that restricts advertising by pregnancy resource centers that counsel alternatives to abortion and also prohibits non-licensed health care professionals from working there.
Violation of the Illinois law, named the Deceptive Practices of Limited Services Pregnancy Centers Act could bring fines of up to $50,000.
The Illinois suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Western Division, seeks a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction and permanent injunction against the bill. Temporary and preliminary injunctions would prevent the law from being enforced as the case proceeds through the court system.
“The Illinois law specifically targets what the abortion side calls ‘misinformation’ on abortion put forward by Illinois pregnancy health ministries,” Peter Breen, executive vice president and head of litigation at the Thomas More Society and a former Illinois state legislator, said. “To that extent, the Illinois law is the most expansive restriction on pro-life speech in the country, which is why we are fighting so hard to enjoin it.”
The lawsuit argues that despite the attorney general’s office acknowledging the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act would already regulate any actual deceptive trade practices, the Legislature proceeded to pass a law that “singles out religious and pro-life speech and organizations for disparate treatment.”