HB5779 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB102 28446 LNS 40318 b

102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2021 and 2022
HB5779

Introduced 11/16/2022, by Rep. Margaret Croke

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

775 ILCS 55/1-5
775 ILCS 55/1-10
775 ILCS 55/1-15
775 ILCS 55/1-20

Amends the Reproductive Health Act. Specifies that every individual has certain fundamental rights with respect to the use of assisted reproductive technology. Prohibits the State from taking certain actions that would restrict or interfere with those rights. Defines "assisted reproductive technology". Makes conforming changes.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning human rights.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Reproductive Health Act is amended by changing Sections 1-5, 1-10, 1-15, and 1-20 as follows:

(775 ILCS 55/1-5)

Sec. 1-5. Scope. This Act sets forth the fundamental rights of individuals to make autonomous decisions about one's own reproductive health, including the fundamental right to use or refuse reproductive health care. This includes the fundamental right of an individual to use or refuse contraception or sterilization, and to make autonomous decisions about how to exercise that right; and the fundamental right of an individual who becomes pregnant to continue the pregnancy and give birth to a child, or to have an abortion, and to make autonomous decisions about how to exercise that right. This Act restricts the ability of the State to deny, interfere with, or discriminate against these fundamental rights.

The purposes of this Act are:

(1) To establish laws and policies that protect individual decision-making in the area of reproductive health and that support access to the full scope of quality reproductive health care for all in our State; and

(2) To permit regulation of reproductive health care, including contraception, abortion, assisted reproductive technology, and maternity care, only to the extent that such regulation is narrowly tailored to protect a compelling State interest, which for the purposes of this Act means: consistent with accepted standards of clinical practice, evidence based, and narrowly tailored for the limited purpose of protecting the health of people seeking such care and in the manner that least restricts a person's autonomous decision-making.

(Source: P.A. 101-13, eff. 6-12-19.)

(775 ILCS 55/1-10)

Sec. 1-10. Definitions. As used in this Act:

"Abortion" means the use of any instrument, medicine, drug, or any other substance or device to terminate the pregnancy of an individual known to be pregnant with an intention other than to increase the probability of a live birth, to preserve the life or health of the child after live birth, or to remove a dead fetus.

"Advanced practice registered nurse" has the same meaning as it does in Section 50-10 of the Nurse Practice Act.

"Assisted reproductive technology" means clinical fertility treatments and laboratory procedures that involve the handling of human oocytes, sperm, or embryos for the purpose of establishing a pregnancy. "Assisted reproductive technology" includes, but is not limited to, in vitro fertilization, gamete intrafallopian transfer, zygote intrafallopian transfer, embryo biopsy, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, embryo cryopreservation, oocyte or embryo donation, and gestational surrogacy. "Assisted reproductive technology" does not include artificial insemination.

"Department" means the Illinois Department of Public Health.

"Fetal viability" means that, in the professional judgment of the attending health care professional, based on the particular facts of the case, there is a significant likelihood of a fetus' sustained survival outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures.

"Health care professional" means a person who is licensed as a physician, advanced practice registered nurse, or physician assistant.

"Health of the patient" means all factors that are relevant to the patient's health and well-being, including, but not limited to, physical, emotional, psychological, and familial health and age.

"Maternity care" means the health care provided in relation to pregnancy, labor and childbirth, and the postpartum period, and includes prenatal care, care during labor and birthing, and postpartum care extending through one-year postpartum. Maternity care shall, seek to optimize positive outcomes for the patient, and be provided on the basis of the physical and psychosocial needs of the patient. Notwithstanding any of the above, all care shall be subject to the informed and voluntary consent of the patient, or the patient's legal proxy, when the patient is unable to give consent.

"Physician" means any person licensed to practice medicine in all its branches under the Medical Practice Act of 1987.

"Physician assistant" has the same meaning as it does in Section 4 of the Physician Assistant Practice Act of 1987.

"Pregnancy" means the human reproductive process, beginning with the implantation of an embryo.

"Prevailing party" has the same meaning as in the Illinois Civil Rights Act of 2003.

"Reproductive health care" means health care offered, arranged, or furnished for the purpose of preventing pregnancy, terminating a pregnancy, managing pregnancy loss, establishing a pregnancy, or improving maternal health and birth outcomes. Reproductive health care includes, but is not limited to: contraception; sterilization; preconception care; assisted reproductive technology; maternity care; abortion care; and counseling regarding reproductive health care.

"State" includes any branch, department, agency, instrumentality, and official or other person acting under color of law of this State or a political subdivision of the State, including any unit of local government (including a home rule unit), school district, instrumentality, or public subdivision.

(Source: P.A. 101-13, eff. 6-12-19.)

(775 ILCS 55/1-15)

Sec. 1-15. Fundamental reproductive health rights.

(a) Every individual has a fundamental right to make autonomous decisions about the individual's own reproductive health, including the fundamental right to use or refuse reproductive health care.

(b) Every individual who becomes pregnant has a fundamental right to continue the pregnancy and give birth or to have an abortion, and to make autonomous decisions about how to exercise that right.

(c) A fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent rights under the laws of this State.

(d) Every individual has a fundamental right to make autonomous decisions regarding the individual's use of assisted reproductive technology, and the individuals who use assisted reproductive technology have a fundamental right to make autonomous decisions regarding the human oocytes, sperm, and embryos used or created by those individuals during their use of that technology.

(Source: P.A. 101-13, eff. 6-12-19.)

(775 ILCS 55/1-20)

Sec. 1-20. Prohibited State actions; causes of action.

(a) The State shall not:

(1) deny, restrict, interfere with, or discriminate against an individual's exercise of the fundamental rights set forth in this Act, including individuals under State custody, control, or supervision; or

(2) prosecute, punish, or otherwise deprive any individual of the individual's rights for any act or failure to act during the individual's own pregnancy, if the predominant basis for such prosecution, punishment, or deprivation of rights is the potential, actual, or perceived impact on the pregnancy or its outcomes or on the pregnant individual's own health; .

(3) restrict or interfere with an individual's right to use assisted reproductive technology, including, but not limited to, the individual's right to create, store, or potentially destroy an embryo as part of that individual's use of that technology;

(4) restrict or interfere with an individual's decision to donate oocytes or sperm to an individual who is undergoing treatment with assisted reproductive technology;

(5) restrict or interfere with the quantity of oocytes or sperm that may be retrieved or collected for an individual as part of that individual's treatment with assisted reproductive technology;

(6) restrict or interfere with the number of embryos that may be created for an individual as part of that individual's treatment with assisted reproductive technology;

(7) restrict or interfere with an individual's decision to submit an embryo, oocyte, or sperm for testing;

(8) restrict or interfere with an individual's decision regarding the number of embryos to be transferred as a part of that individual's treatment with assisted reproductive technology; or

(9) restrict or interfere with an individual's decision regarding the use of untransferred embryos created as a part of the individual's treatment with assisted reproductive technology, including, but not limited to, any decision concerning the transfer of the embryo to another individual, the donation of the embryo to a laboratory for research, the destruction of the embryo, or the cryopreservation of the embryo.

(b) Any party aggrieved by conduct or regulation in violation of this Act may bring a civil lawsuit, in a federal district court or State circuit court, against the offending unit of government. Any State claim brought in federal district court shall be a supplemental claim to a federal claim.

(c) Upon motion, a court shall award reasonable attorney's fees and costs, including expert witness fees and other litigation expenses, to a plaintiff who is a prevailing party in any action brought pursuant to this Section. In awarding reasonable attorney's fees, the court shall consider the degree to which the relief obtained relates to the relief sought.

(Source: P.A. 101-13, eff. 6-12-19.)