093_HB2486
LRB093 10719 RLC 11107 b
1 AN ACT concerning reproductive health care facilities.
2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:
4 Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
5 Illinois Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.
6 Section 5. Legislative intention.
7 (a) The General Assembly recognizes that access to
8 health care facilities for the purpose of obtaining medical
9 counseling and treatment is imperative for the citizens of
10 this State; that the exercise of a person's right to protest
11 or counsel against certain medical procedures must be
12 balanced against another person's right to obtain medical
13 counseling and treatment in an unobstructed manner; and that
14 preventing the willful obstruction of a person's access to
15 medical counseling and treatment at a reproductive health
16 care facility is a matter of statewide concern.
17 (b) Federal law enforcement activities proved effective
18 between 1993 and 2001 in reducing and punishing crimes
19 intended to violate an individual's right to access
20 reproductive health care. However, the level and threat of
21 those crimes in 2002 and 2003 remain unacceptably high, and
22 continued and increased law enforcement remains necessary.
23 (c) Federal actions that proved effective in reducing
24 and punishing these crimes include the vigorous criminal and
25 civil enforcement of the Freedom of Access to Clinic
26 Entrances Act of 1994 (18 U.S.C. Sec. 248) by the United
27 States Department of Justice and the United States Attorney's
28 Office; security training and advice provided by the United
29 States Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco
30 and Firearms to reproductive health service providers; and
31 the protection provided by the United States Marshals
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1 Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and
2 the Federal Bureau of Investigation to those persons most at
3 risk from these crimes.
4 (d) It is the intent of the General Assembly that State
5 and local law enforcement agencies continue and build on
6 these services in Illinois. Therefore, the General Assembly
7 declares that it is appropriate to enact legislation that
8 prohibits a person from knowingly obstructing another
9 person's entry to or exit from a reproductive health services
10 facility.
11 (e) It is the intent of the General Assembly that
12 nothing in this Act, and no action by anyone pursuant to this
13 Act, punish an individual solely because of his or her
14 political beliefs, because of his or her advocacy of any
15 lawful actions, or because of his or her exercise of the
16 right of free speech, and that nothing in this Act, and no
17 actions by anyone pursuant to this Act, otherwise punish an
18 individual because of his or her beliefs, constitutionally
19 protected speech, or lawful actions.
20 Section 10. Definitions. In this Act:
21 "Crime of violence" means an offense that has as an
22 element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical
23 force against the person or property of another.
24 "Interfere with" means to restrict a person's freedom of
25 movement.
26 "Intimidate" means to place a person in reasonable
27 apprehension of bodily harm to herself or himself or to
28 another.
29 "Nonviolent" means conduct that would not constitute a
30 crime of violence.
31 "Physical obstruction" means rendering ingress to or
32 egress from a reproductive health services facility
33 impassable to another person or rendering passage to or from
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1 a reproductive health services facility unreasonably
2 difficult or hazardous to another person.
3 "Reproductive health services" means health services
4 provided in a hospital, clinic, physician's office, or other
5 facility and includes medical, surgical, counseling, or
6 referral services relating to reproductive health care.
7 "Reproductive health services client, provider, or
8 assistant" means a person or entity that is or was involved
9 in obtaining, seeking to obtain, providing, seeking to
10 provide, or assisting or seeking to assist another person, at
11 that other person's request, to obtain or provide any
12 services in a reproductive health services facility, or a
13 person or entity that is or was involved in owning or
14 operating or seeking to own or operate a reproductive health
15 services facility.
16 "Reproductive health services facility" means a hospital,
17 clinic, physician's office, or other facility that provides
18 or seeks to provide reproductive health services and includes
19 the building or structure in which the facility is located.
20 Section 15. Unlawful interference with access to
21 reproductive health services. A person commits the offense of
22 unlawful interference with access to reproductive health
23 services when he or she commits any of the following acts:
24 (1) By force, threat of force, or physical
25 obstruction, intentionally injures, intimidates,
26 interferes with, or attempts to injure, intimidate, or
27 interfere with, any person or entity because that person
28 or entity is a reproductive health services client,
29 provider, or assistant, or in order to intimidate any
30 person or entity, or any class of persons or entities,
31 from becoming or remaining a reproductive health services
32 client, provider, or assistant.
33 (2) By nonviolent physical obstruction,
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1 intentionally injures, intimidates, or interferes with or
2 attempts to injure, intimidate, or interfere with any
3 person or entity because that person or entity is a
4 reproductive health services client, provider, or
5 assistant or in order to intimidate any person or entity
6 or any class of persons or entities from becoming or
7 remaining a reproductive health services client,
8 provider, or assistant.
9 (3) Intentionally damages or destroys the property
10 of a person, entity, or facility, or attempts to do so,
11 because the person, entity, or facility is a reproductive
12 health services client, provider, assistant, or facility.
13 Section 20. Penalty.
14 (a) A violation of Section 15 shall be penalized as
15 follows:
16 (1) A first violation of Section 15 is a Class A
17 misdemeanor;
18 (2) A second or subsequent violation of Section 15
19 is a Class 4 felony; and
20 (3) For an offense involving exclusively a
21 nonviolent physical obstruction, the first violation of
22 Section 15 is a Class C misdemeanor and a second or
23 subsequent violation is a Class B misdemeanor.
24 (b) This Act establishes concurrent State jurisdiction
25 over conduct that is also prohibited by the federal Freedom
26 of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994 (18 U.S.C. Sec.
27 248), which provides for more severe misdemeanor penalties
28 for first violations and felony-misdemeanor penalties for
29 second and subsequent violations. State law enforcement
30 agencies and prosecutors shall cooperate with federal
31 authorities in the prevention, apprehension, and prosecution
32 of these crimes and shall seek federal prosecutions when
33 appropriate.
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1 (c) No person shall be convicted under this Section for
2 conduct in violation of Section 15 that was done on a
3 particular occasion if the identical conduct on that occasion
4 was the basis for a conviction of that person under the
5 federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994 (18
6 U.S.C. Sec. 248).
7 Section 25. Damages; costs.
8 (a) A person aggrieved by a violation of Section 15 may
9 bring a civil action to enjoin the violation, for
10 compensatory and punitive damages, and for the costs of suit
11 and reasonable fees for attorneys and expert witnesses. With
12 respect to compensatory damages, the plaintiff may elect, at
13 any time prior to the rendering of a final judgment, to
14 recover, in lieu of actual damages, an award of statutory
15 damages in the amount of $1,000 per exclusively nonviolent
16 violation, and $5,000 per any other violation, for each
17 violation committed.
18 (b) The Attorney General, a State's Attorney, or a
19 municipal attorney may bring a civil action to enjoin a
20 violation of Section 15, for compensatory damages to persons
21 aggrieved as described in subsection (a), and for the
22 assessment of a civil penalty against each respondent. The
23 civil penalty shall not exceed $2,000 for an exclusively
24 nonviolent first violation, and $15,000 for any other first
25 violation, and shall not exceed $5,000 for an exclusively
26 nonviolent subsequent violation, and $25,000 for any other
27 subsequent violation. In imposing civil penalties pursuant to
28 this subsection (b), the court shall consider a prior
29 violation of the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic
30 Entrances Act of 1994 (18 U.S.C. Sec. 248) or a prior
31 violation of a statute of another jurisdiction that would
32 constitute a violation of Section 20 or the federal Freedom
33 of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994, to be a prior
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1 violation of Section 15.
2 (c) No person shall be found liable under this Section
3 for conduct in violation of Section 15 done on a particular
4 occasion if the identical conduct on that occasion was the
5 basis for a finding of liability by that person under the
6 federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994 (18
7 U.S.C. Sec. 248).
8 Section 30. Injunctive relief.
9 (a) The court in which a criminal or civil proceeding is
10 filed for a violation of Section 15 shall take all action
11 reasonably required, including granting restraining orders,
12 to safeguard the reproductive health, safety, or privacy of
13 either of the following:
14 (1) A reproductive health services client,
15 provider, or assistant who is a party or witness in the
16 proceeding;
17 (2) A person who is a victim of, or at risk of
18 becoming a victim of, conduct prohibited by Section 15.
19 (b) A court may, in its discretion, permit an individual
20 described in subsection (a) to use a pseudonym in a civil
21 proceeding described in subsection (a) when reasonably
22 required to safeguard the health, safety, or privacy of the
23 individual.
24 Section 35. This Act may not be construed for any of the
25 following purposes:
26 (1) To impair any constitutionally protected activity or
27 any activity protected by the State of Illinois or federal
28 law.
29 (2) To provide exclusive civil or criminal remedies or
30 to preempt or to preclude any county, city, or city and
31 county from passing any law to provide a remedy for the
32 commission of any of the acts prohibited by this Act or to
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1 make any of those acts a crime.
2 (3) To interfere with the enforcement of any federal,
3 State, or local laws regulating the performance of abortions
4 or the provision of other reproductive health services.
5 (4) To negate, supercede, or otherwise interfere with
6 the operation of any provision of the Labor Dispute Act.
7 (5) To preclude prosecution under this Section and any
8 other provision of law, except as provided in subsection (c)
9 of Section 20.