Health
Illinois Lawmakers Look to Protect Abortion Care Records
Illinois lawmakers on Thursday were poised to protect the privacy of abortion care records, yet another measure the General Assembly has passed in recent years aimed at boosting access to reproductive care and protecting patients who seek it.
The bill would mandate that health information exchanges develop policies that would segregate any patient data on abortion-related care — as well as any treatment for gender dysphoria — and broadly bar the release of that information to an out-of-state entity. It would also prevent any electronic health network from notifying providers in other states that such information has been withheld.
The move is aimed at protecting the privacy of people seeking abortion care in Illinois, which has become a major destination for patients after the rollback of abortion rights in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision in 2022.
According to a report earlier this year from the Guttmacher Institute, an organization that advocates for and researches abortion access, nearly a quarter of all people seeking an abortion outside the state where they live came to Illinois.
The measure, if passed in the state Senate, must return to the state House of Representatives for concurrence with changes made in the Senate.
AI, Insurance, Social Media
State lawmakers on Wednesday passed sweeping artificial intelligence regulation that experts have described as the toughest in the nation. The bill would require developers to create and publish a transparency framework explaining how the company applies industry standards, measures model capabilities and chance of catastrophic risk, and identifies and responds to safety incidents.
Developers would also be required to employ third-party auditors to ensure compliance with the framework.
While it had the support of major AI players OpenAI and Anthropic, the American Innovators Network — a group representing AI startups and entrepreneurs — urged state lawmakers to rethink the measure.
“The Illinois General Assembly has taken a misguided approach to AI regulation by establishing a burdensome audit requirement to assess AI companies based on auditing standards that do not yet exist, effectively handing the power to write Illinois law to whichever accounting firm gets hired,” AIN Executive Director Jeremy Kudon said in a statement. “Whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, policymakers are legislating in an arena dominated by trillion-dollar companies. There is a real difference between a startup that marginally clears the $500 million threshold and an enterprise doing billions in business every week.”
Legislators also OK’d measures Wednesday giving the state’s Department of Insurance the authority to reject rate increases in auto and home insurance deemed excessive, a move long sought amid outcry over soaring, unpredictable costs.
Gov. JB Pritzker applauded the passage of those bills and said he plans to sign them into law.
Another measure with the governor’s backing would create the Children’s Online Safety Act. It would mandate age verification, prevent autoplay media for minors, and block notifications for minors between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.
“Social media algorithms have been proven to create mental health issues in adolescents and foster polarization and misinformation in society as a whole,” Pritzker said during his State of the State address in February.
That bill awaits passage in the state Senate before it can be sent to the House for final concurrence.
Jenna Schweikert of Capitol News Illinois and UIS Public Affairs Reporting contributed to this story.
