Reproductive rights advocates celebrated Friday after Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed legislation expanding protections for abortion patients and health care workers, as well as widening the pool of abortion providers, to help meet the recent spike in demand.
The law — which shields patients and providers from legal actions taken by other states — comes as Illinois faces a massive surge in out-of-state abortion patients following U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in June.Pritzker called the measure “nation-leading legislation,” and added that Illinois has an obligation to support reproductive freedoms “for our residents and those who seek safe haven.
The new Illinois law, dubbed the Patient and Provider Protection Act, prevents health care providers from losing their Illinois medical licenses if they’ve had a license revoked in another state for performing a procedure that’s legal in Illinois. The legislation also bars health insurance companies from charging more for out-of-network care if in-network providers object to medical care for moral reasons.
About a dozen states have laws that permit advance practice clinicians to provide procedural abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports reproductive rights. Illinois reproductive rights advocates and abortion clinics have urged lawmakers to expand the pool of abortion providers ever since the demise of Roe ended federal abortion rights, leaving the matter up to individual states.
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