Illinois has taken a significant step in safeguarding reproductive rights by passing legislation that prohibits state authorities from aiding investigations into individuals seeking abortion services within state borders. This decision comes in response to red states either passing or considering anti-abortion legislation that threatens people who seek abortions in other states.
The new law prevents Illinois authorities from complying with out-of-state subpoenas, summons, or extradition requests related to abortion. It also allows individuals to sue for civil damages if their information is improperly disclosed, a direct repudiation of a proposed law in neighboring Missouri that would have allowed private citizens to sue anyone who helps a Missouri resident obtain an abortion in another state.
While the Missouri law didn’t pass, other bills like one in Tennessee that bans adults from assisting minors in obtaining abortions are moving ahead. The Tennessee bill is similar to an already enacted Idaho law that swiftly came under opposition from 20 other states.
Texas doesn’t explicitly allow its residents to sue someone for helping someone get an abortion in another state, but it has enacted laws that could potentially lead to such situations, and the state’s rabid Attorney General Ken Paxton seems likely to test that possibility.
At least 14 states have now moved to help protect abortion providers from lawsuits and prosecution in other states.