Healthcare (Women's Health)

Declares April 11 through April 17, 2026 as Black Maternal Health Week in the State of Illinois. Commends the work of organizations, health care providers, managed care entities, and community leaders, including Meridian Health Plan's MomCare initiative, for their dedication to improving maternal health outcomes and advancing equity across Illinois. Reaffirms commitment to supporting policies, programs, and partnerships that eliminate maternal health disparities and ensure that every mother in Illinois has access to high-quality, culturally competent care. Encourages continued public-private partnerships and innovative care delivery models that expand access, improve outcomes, and strengthen accountability across the maternal health ecosystem.

Creates the Reproductive Health Records Privacy Act. Requires health information exchanges to implement policies and technical capabilities by July 1, 2027, to segregate medical information related to abortion care, restrict access by out-of-state entities, and limit disclosure. Provides enforcement through private actions and civil actions by the Attorney General, including injunctive relief and civil penalties. Defines terms. Amends the Medical Patient Rights Act to clarify patient privacy rights and allow segregation of abortion-related information in health information exchanges. Provides for severability.

Amends the Department of Public Health Powers and Duties Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois. Requires the Department of Public Health to establish the Abortion Access Fund Grant Program to award grants from the Abortion Access Fund to support access to abortion care services throughout the State. Provides that grants awarded under the Program shall only be used to fund abortion services for which the use of federal funds is prohibited for patients who are uninsured or underinsured with respect to those services. Allows the Department to establish rules necessary to implement the Abortion Access Fund Grant Program, including eligibility criteria, grant limits, application standards, requirements for the distribution and obligation of grant funds, accounting for the use of the funds, and standards for monitoring compliance with the requirements of the Program. Amends the State Finance Act to create the Abortion Access Fund as a special fund in the State treasury. Amends the Illinois Health Benefits Exchange Law. Requires specified health insurance issuers that have offered one or more qualified health plans through the Illinois Health Benefits Exchange to report to the Department of Insurance an accounting of receipts, disbursements, transfers of funds between accounts, total dollar claims paid, accrued interest, and the year-end balance for each reporting year for the separate allocation accounts that the issuer has established under specified provisions of federal law for abortion services for which federal funding is prohibited. Establishes further reporting requirements for health insurance issuers. Provides that, if the amount of premiums collected during the plan year for abortion services for which federal funding is prohibited exceeds total claims paid for such services rendered during the plan year, the Director of Insurance shall order the health insurance issuer to transfer funds, and the issuer shall complete the transfer, to the Abortion Access Fund. Makes other changes. Effective immediately.

Amends the Hospital Licensing Act. Prior to discharge of a postpartum patient, requires a hospital to ensure that a postpartum follow-up appointment is scheduled with an appropriate obstetric care provider. Provides that the appointment shall be scheduled for a date consistent with clinical guidelines, but no later than 6 weeks following birth, unless an earlier visit is medically indicated. Provides that a registered nurse or other designated clinical staff member may fulfill the scheduling requirement. Provides that a patient may decline to have an appointment scheduled, and such declination shall be documented in the patient's medical record. Establishes specified exemptions from discipline if an attempt to schedule an appointment was made. Grants the Department of Public Health rulemaking authority. Amends the University of Illinois Hospital Act to establish the same requirements for the University of Illinois Hospital. Effective January 1, 2027.

Creates the Reproductive Health Records Privacy Act. Requires health information exchanges to implement policies and technical capabilities by July 1, 2027, to segregate medical information related to abortion care, restrict access by out-of-state entities, and limit disclosure. Provides enforcement through private actions and civil actions by the Attorney General, including injunctive relief and civil penalties. Defines terms. Amends the Medical Patient Rights Act to clarify patient privacy rights and allow segregation of abortion-related information in health information exchanges. Provides for severability.

Amends the Illinois Human Rights Act. Voids any provision in an oral agreement or written instrument relating to real property suited for medical procedures that purports to forbid or restrict the conveyance, encumbrance, occupancy, or lease on the basis of providing reproductive health care so long as voiding the provision would not place the instrument or agreement in conflict with another law. Voids any condition, restriction or prohibition, including a right of entry or possibility of reverter, which directly or indirectly limits the use or occupancy of real property suited for medical procedures on the basis of providing reproductive health care so long as voiding the provision would not place the instrument or agreement in conflict with another law. Makes it a civil rights violation to insert in a written instrument a provision that is void under the Act.

Amends the Department of Public Health Powers and Duties Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois. Requires the Department of Public Health to establish the Abortion Access Fund Grant Program to award grants from the Abortion Access Fund to support access to abortion care services throughout the State. Provides that grants awarded under the Program shall only be used to fund abortion services for which the use of federal funds is prohibited for patients who are uninsured or underinsured with respect to those services. Allows the Department to establish rules necessary to implement the Abortion Access Fund Grant Program, including eligibility criteria, grant limits, application standards, requirements for the distribution and obligation of grant funds, accounting for the use of the funds, and standards for monitoring compliance with the requirements of the Program. Amends the State Finance Act to create the Abortion Access Fund as a special fund in the State treasury. Amends the Illinois Health Benefits Exchange Law. Requires specified health insurance issuers that have offered one or more qualified health plans through the Illinois Health Benefits Exchange to report to the Department of Insurance an accounting of receipts, disbursements, transfers of funds between accounts, total dollar claims paid, accrued interest, and the year-end balance for each reporting year for the separate allocation accounts that the issuer has established under specified provisions of federal law for abortion services for which federal funding is prohibited. Establishes further reporting requirements for health insurance issuers. Provides that, if the amount of premiums collected during the plan year for abortion services for which federal funding is prohibited exceeds total claims paid for such services rendered during the plan year, the Director of Insurance shall order the health insurance issuer to transfer funds, and the issuer shall complete the transfer, to the Abortion Access Fund. Makes other changes. Effective immediately.

Provides that the amendatory Act may be referred to as the Reproductive Liberty and Justice Act. Amends the Equity and Representation in Health Care Act. Expands the definition of "medical facility" to include a reproductive health center established at a nonprofit community health center. Makes other changes. Amends the Birth Center Licensing Act. Makes changes to the definition of "birth center". Provides that a birth center and any licensed provider of abortion and birth control services on site may be colocated at the same facility. Requires the Department of Public Health to adopt rules for licensing and designating colocated facilities to provide specified essential reproductive health care services. Contains other provisions. Amends the Licensed Certified Professional Midwife Practice Act. Provides that a licensed certified professional midwife may provide out-of-hospital care to a childbearing individual who has had a previous cesarean section, if authorized by the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Removes language prohibiting a licensed certified professional midwife from (1) performing an abortion or (2) knowingly accepting responsibility for prenatal or intrapartum care of a client with alcohol abuse or drug addiction. Amends the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act. Removes from the definition of "neglected child" any child who is a newborn infant whose blood, urine, or meconium contains any amount of a controlled substance. Makes corresponding changes to the Juvenile Court Act of 1987, the Adoption Act, and the Vital Records Act. Contains provisions concerning CAPTA notifications and prohibited disclosures regarding the results of a toxicology test administered on a newborn or a pregnant person. Amends the Substance Use Disorder Act. Contains provisions concerning Plans of Safe Care. Amends the Medical Patient Rights Act. Provides that a patient has the right for a physician and other health care service providers to administer specified medical tests without disclosing the results of the test to a law enforcement agency or to the Department of Children and Family Services. Amends the Illinois Health and Hazardous Substances Registry Act. Makes changes to the definition of "adverse pregnancy outcome". Contains provisions concerning certificates of birth resulting in stillbirth. Makes other changes.

Amends the State Finance Act to create the Women's Reproductive Health Care Fund. Amends the Health Care Right of Conscience Act. Makes a protocol provision mandatory (instead of at the request of the patient or legal representative of the patient) that the health care facility, physician, or health care personnel must: (i) refer the patient to, or (ii) transfer the patient to, or (iii) provide in writing information to the patient about other health care providers who they reasonably believe may offer the health care service the health care facility, physician, or health personnel refuses to permit, perform, or participate in because of a conscience-based objection. Provides that the injured person shall recover $5,000 in damages, and the violator shall pay to the circuit court clerk a penalty of $5,000 that is to be remitted as soon as practicable to the Department of Healthcare and Family Services for deposit into the Women's Reproductive Health Care Fund, a special fund created in the State treasury. Provides that, subject to appropriation and as directed by the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, all monies in the Fund shall be expended to improve women's reproductive health care and for no other purpose.

Amends the Reproductive Health Act. Provides that consent to a termination of pregnancy is voluntary and informed only if: the physician who is to perform the procedure, or the referring physician, has, at a minimum, orally, while physically present in the same room, and at least 24 hours before the procedure, provided the woman with specified information; specified printed materials prepared and provided by the Department of Public Health have been provided to the pregnant woman, if she chooses to view these materials; and the woman acknowledges in writing, before the termination of pregnancy, that the information required to be provided has been provided. Provides that if a medical emergency exists and a physician cannot comply with the requirements for informed consent, a physician may terminate a pregnancy if he or she has obtained at least one corroborative medical opinion attesting to the medical necessity for emergency medical procedures and to the fact that to a reasonable degree of medical certainty the continuation of the pregnancy would threaten the life of the pregnant woman. Provides that a physician or other person who violates the provisions shall be subject to appropriate disciplinary action.