Misleading clients on abortion could cost Illinois pregnancy centers
Crisis pregnancy centers in Illinois that are popping up near abortion facilities to offer information about alternatives face penalties if they disseminate misleading or untruthful information
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois crisis pregnancy centers, which often pop up near abortion facilities to offer information about alternatives, could face penalties if they disseminate misleading or untruthful information.
The move is another Democratic effort to insulate the state's virtually unfettered access to abortion, even as neighboring states restrict it.
Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzke signed legislation Thursday to immediately apply the state's consumer protection statute to the pregnancy centers, non-medical facilities that offer some services to pregnant women and girls, such as ultrasound. They often discourage abortion by using counseling, material support and/or housing in an effort to persuade women to bring their pregnancies to term.
The pregnancy centers wasted little time challenging the law's constitutionality. The National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, a national network of pregnancy help centers; and several centers in Illinois filed a federal lawsuit in Rockford seeking a restraining order and injunction against the state's enforcement.
