Federal judge blocks Illinois law that targets crisis pregnancy centers
Gabrielle M. Etzel
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A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction on Thursday night halting the enforcement of Illinois‘s new law targeting crisis pregnancy centers, sparking further tension in one of the few states in the Midwest where abortion faces few restrictions.
“This is a huge win for women and their families seeking assistance for an unplanned pregnancy, many of whom have nowhere else to go for help,” said the plaintiff in the case, Thomas Glessner, president of the National Institute of Family Life Advocates.
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Judge Iain Johnston issued the preliminary injunction without comment after the group filed suit against the legislation, arguing that enforcing the “vague and overbroad speech regulations undermines [NIFLA] ability to advocate their faith-based position” and freedom of association.
Glessner said that the injunction is “also a big win for pro-life pregnancy centers whose First Amendment rights have been blatantly attacked by the state of Illinois who want to force them to go against their deeply held beliefs that women deserve better than abortion.”
Johnston was appointed to the federal bench by then-President Donald Trump and was confirmed by the Senate in September 2020.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) did not vote for Johnston because of his “extreme bias against women’s rights.” Illinois’s other senator, Dick Durbin, did vote to confirm Johnston.
Crisis pregnancy centers are typically faith-based groups that provide certain medical and supportive services for women with unplanned pregnancies.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and other groups condemn crisis pregnancy centers as illegitimate and unregulated healthcare clinics that use deceptive means to dissuade patients from obtaining abortions. “By using deception, delay tactics, and disinformation, staffs undermine the tenets of informed consent and patient autonomy and impede access to comprehensive, ethical care,” the organization said.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law last week a measure clarifying how state consumer protection laws applied to crisis pregnancy centers. Although crisis pregnancy centers were not compelled under the new law to provide information about services that would violate their conscience, the legislation prevented them from “using misinformation, deceptive practices, or misrepresentation in order to interfere with access to abortion services or emergency contraception” and gave the attorney general the authority to investigate and prosecute crisis pregnancy centers under consumer fraud laws.
“Women need access to comprehensive, fact-based healthcare when making critical decision about their own health — not manipulation or misinformation from politically motivated, non-medical actors,” Pritzker said upon signing the legislation.
“Governor Pritzker went so far overboard with this law, demanding people who don’t agree with him outrightly go against their beliefs and support his radical abortion stance,” Glessner said. “We are thrilled with the judge’s decision to issue the preliminary injunction against this unconstitutional law and hope it follows Roe into the trash heap.”
Planned Parenthood Illinois Action praised the passage of the law last week, calling the bill “a crucial step towards safeguarding bodily autonomy and reproductive health care.”
Repro Transparency Now, a nonprofit group with the mission of eliminating crisis pregnancy centers, was involved advocated for the legislation along with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and said upon its passage that “Illinois will play a historic role in the fight for bodily autonomy and holding anti-abortion [crisis pregnancy centers] accountable for their deception.”
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Neither Planned Parenthood nor Repro Transparency Now has issued a comment on the preliminary injunction.
“Across the nation, pregnancy help ministries are being discriminated against by laws that target their life-
affirming work,” said Peter Breen, executive vice president and head of litigation for the Thomas More Society, which is representing the National Institute of Family Life Advocates. “The injunction granted today sends a strong, clear message to the country that the First Amendment protects pro-life speech.”