A section of a 2016 Illinois law requiring a health care provider to discuss the risks and benefits of childbirth and abortion is compelled speech and violates the First Amendment, a federal judge held in part last week.
On Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Iain D. Johnston for the Northern District of Illinois issued a split decision on two portions of the state’s Health Care Right of Conscious Act, Public Act 99-690, sections 6.1(1) and 6.1(3). The plaintiffs, which include the anti-abortion organization National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, a medical doctor and two other pregnancy centers, brought the suit in 2016, challenging the constitutionality of the law as it requires anti-abortion advocates to discuss the “benefits” of abortion. The anti-abortion pregnancy centers refuse to perform or refer patients for elective abortions. The plaintiffs brought the suit against the current director of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, Mario Treto Jr.