As Illinois continues to see a rise in patients seeking reproductive care from states with abortion bans, the Illinois House late Thursday advanced a comprehensive measure that will expand the scope of medical professionals who can perform abortions and protect patients and providers from litigation from states where abortion is illegal.
The Illinois House voted 67-41 to pass the legislation, which would also prevent the state from taking disciplinary action against a health care professional if they are disciplined by another state for providing health care that is legal in Illinois. The measure must still clear the Illinois Senate in the waning days of a lame-duck session.
It also allows patients to receive hormonal birth control over the counter from a pharmacist under a statewide order from the Illinois Department of Public Health and clarifies that no person is subject to civil liability for receiving an abortion and that no hospital personnel may report an abortion to law enforcement agencies.
Advanced practice registered nurses and physician assistants would be able to perform aspiration abortions, the most common in-clinic abortions that do not require general anesthesia.
“Senate Bill 1534 represents the work we have done to shore up that right to privacy and protect patients and providers from undue interference from hostile states,” bill sponsor state Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, said during debate.
“It will ensure access for our residents as we see upwards of 30,000 inbound patients from hostile states seeking care that they can’t get in their home state, and it will expand capacity.”
It also removes co-pays for HIV medications and gender-affirming care, including medication and surgery for those seeking to change their gender. That became a sticking point for many Republicans, who picked apart whether minors should be able to choose their gender. The legislation, however, strictly focused on medications for gender-affirming care not an expansion of the care.
State Rep. Avery Bourne, R-Morrisonville, said she was concerned about the ability of patients to get prescriptions without a doctor — and of the expansion of those who can perform aspirational abortions, calling the measure “an expansion that goes beyond what most Illinoisans think is appropriate.”
“With this bill and the bills they have passed previously, now they want to trust minor girls to make decisions with physician assistants, not doctors, and it can be paid for with taxpayers’ dollars and their parents never have to know. And it can be done in a clinic that’s not held up to medical standards,” Bourne said. “It’s not exactly the same as a woman and her doctor, and it’s not exactly safe, legal and rare either.”
The legislation would allow the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to grant out-of-state physicians, physician assistants and advanced practice registered nurses a two-year temporary license to practice health care in Illinois.
The proposal came out of months of work from a Democratic working group. Gov. J.B. Pritzker has said he’d support measures that would “further enshrine” reproductive protections in light of the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Illinois is already a safe haven for those seeking abortions in the Midwest, with some of the strongest reproductive health laws on the books. The state in 2019 established in state law the right to reproductive health care, including abortions — a measure put in place in the event the landmark Supreme Court case was overturned. The groundwork to protect abortion in Illinois was set in 2017 when Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner signed a measure that both allowed the public funding of abortions and ensured the procedure would remain legal.
And in December 2021, Pritzker signed a measure that repealed the last state law on the books that restricted abortion rights — a law that stopped minors from being required to notify a parent or guardian before having an abortion.
