By: Ashmar Mandou

On Wednesday, Governor JB Pritzker, joined by legislators and civil rights leaders, signed multiple bills designed to further protect reproductive rights in Illinois. The bills signed includes HB581, which ensures that pregnant women can access needed emergency medical care, HB5239, which expands Illinois’ shield laws, and HB4867, which clarifies and expands the Illinois Human Rights Act to prohibit discrimination based on reproductive health decisions.

“It is no longer enough to legislate for the current moment. We sadly have to anticipate a future when the Supreme Court and other bad actors further restrict and punish women seeking to exercise their medical rights and control over their bodies. ​ These new laws will ensure that women in Illinois and those travelling from out of state can avoid persecution and discrimination on every level,” said Governor JB Pritzker. HB5239 further expands these protections. ​ Under the law, state and local jurisdictions cannot provide any information or expend any resources to help an out of state entity investigate legal healthcare, including abortions or gender affirming care, provided in Illinois.

“We’ve taken strong steps to safeguard vital medical care with these two key pieces of legislation,” said State Senator Celina Villanueva (D – Chicago). “Together, these bills reflect our dedication to protecting essential health services and respecting individual rights.” HB4867 adds reproductive health decisions to the Illinois Human Rights Act. Reproductive health decisions include a broad continuum of personal decisions regarding abortion and birth control, fertility or sterilization care, miscarriage management care, assisted reproductive technologies such as in-vitro fertilization, and prenatal, intranatal, and postnatal care.

HB 4867 clarifies and extends existing anti-discrimination protections by ensuring Illinoisans have the right to engage in reproductive health decision-making without facing discrimination. It also complements existing protections found in the Reproductive Health Act, which protects Illinoisans from State of Illinois interference with the fundamental rights of individuals to make autonomous decisions about their reproductive health. Under this amendment, it would be a civil rights violation for:

• An employer to terminate an employee for seeking to start or expand their family with the assistance of in-vitro fertilization

• A housing provider to refuse a prospective tenant an apartment rental because the person had an abortion

• A bank or credit union to deny an applicant a loan or credit because it would be used for fertility treatments

“Reproductive rights are under attack in states across this country, but here in Illinois, we have leaders who stand up boldly to fight back,” said Personal PAC CEO Sarah Garza Resnick. “Thanks to Gov. Pritzker and our legislative champions, Illinois remains a bulwark in the Midwest against efforts to strip away our rights to control our bodies.”