amends the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act to prohibit LSPCs from engaging in “deceptive, fraudulent, and misleading advertising and practices that interfere with an individual’s ability to make autonomous, informed, and evidence-based decisions” about their reproductive healthcare and access “quality reproductive health care that adheres to accepted standards of medical practice or care.
In applying to both deceptive advertising and fraudulent practices, the Illinois law goes far beyond the Connecticut, Colorado and Vermont laws, which address advertising and, in Colorado and Vermont, specific standards of practice. The Illinois House passedDuring House debate, state Representative Dagmara Avelar recounted her experience at a CPC.
“People who appeared as though they might work at the health center were outside with a sign that said to check in, and they were attempting to redirect us away from the health center,” Raoul said in a statement supporting SB 1909. “Patients report being misled into going to crisis pregnancy centers—sometimes even receiving exams and ultrasounds—thinking they were visiting another clinic that offers the full range of reproductive care.
As a Latina, as somebody who has seen these fake clinics prey on our community, preying on people who lack the understanding of how the healthcare system works here in the U.S., people who have limited English proficiency, I’ve seen it happen.