Judge Halts Illinois Law Targeting Pregnancy Crisis Centers, Infringing Pro-Life Speech

Judge Halts Illinois Law Targeting Pregnancy Crisis Centers, Infringing Pro-Life Speech

Last week, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a law that targets pregnancy crisis centers for supposed ‘deceptive business practices.’

A lawsuit was filed, and now a federal judge has halted the law.

Capitol News Illinois reports:

UPDATED: Federal judge temporarily blocks Illinois law subjecting ‘crisis pregnancy centers’ to civil liability

A new law allowing Illinoisans to sue so-called crisis pregnancy centers under the state’s Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act is on hold after a federal judge late Thursday granted a preliminary injunction against it.

After a lengthy hearing in his Rockford courtroom, Judge Iain Johnston issued a brief oral ruling on Thursday evening, saying the law violated the First Amendment. Nearly 24 hours later, Johnston on Friday filed a 14-page order explaining the preliminary injunction, which began by recalling a joke told by the late conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

“Justice Scalia once said that he wished all federal judges were given a stamp that read ‘stupid but constitutional,’” Johnston wrote. “SB 1909 is both stupid and very likely unconstitutional.”

Johnston, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump in 2020, went on to characterize the law as “likely classic content and viewpoint discrimination prohibited by the First Amendment.”

Anti-abortion groups filed their First Amendment suit within an hour of Gov. JB Pritzker signing the law last week.

You can read the decision here.

Here’s a video report:

FOX News has more on this:

The ruling came after four hours of testimony from pro-life advocates who said the law had infringed on their free speech and ability to hand out literature that gives alternatives to abortion.

“It’s going to stop us from offering mothers a choice,” Kevin Rilott, director of the Rockford Family Initiative and a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said…

Pritzker said he was “disappointed” by the ruling but predicted the law would be upheld.

“I’m disappointed that the far-right is interfering with the ability for women to access safe medical care without deception or lies,” the governor said in a statement. “This law is constitutional, and I am confident that the law will ultimately be found constitutional, and we’ll continue to work alongside Attorney General Raoul to ensure Illinois patients are protected from misinformation.”

It’s not enough for Democrats for abortion to be legal in Illinois. They don’t want women to hear any other views on the subject.

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