Kendall County Times

Illinois state Sen. Win Stoller (R-Germantown Hills) took to social media recently to speak out against a bill that prohibits limited service pregnancy centers from engaging in what the attorney general could deem deceptive practices.

"Senate Bill 1909 is a bill designed to weaponize our State's Attorney General's Office against pregnancy resource centers for so-called deceptive practices merely because they do not actively promote abortion procedures," Stoller said in a March 31 Facebook post.

The measure would allow the state attorney general to shut down "limited pregnancy care centers" when the AG believes the center is, has or will engage in unlawful activity, a recent report from The Center Square said.

"Senate Bill 1909 protects patients against the use of deceptive and misleading practices that hinder the ability of people to make informed decisions and access timely reproductive healthcare," state Sen. Celina Villanueva (D-Chicago), the bill's sponsor, said during debate on the Senate floor, quoted by The Center Square.

Republican lawmakers argued against Villanueva's claims. State Sen. Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro) said the measure only benefits the attorney general's office.  

"In fact, what this bill does is it says that the attorney general's office is allowed to make the rules, then they are allowed to decide what the fines are going to be for this, then they collect the fines, and it goes into their own coffers," Bryant said, according to The Center Square. 

The bill states that if the attorney general's office finds any violations at one of the facilities, it can impose a penalty on the company of up to $50,000.

State Sen. Jil Tracy (R-Quincy) argued that the measure is a way for Democrats to punish the clinics.

"Don't try to hang this over their heads and harass them," Tracy said, in The Center Square report. "We talk about bullying all the time. We need peaceful discussion of our ideas."

The report also quoted state Rep. Bill Hauter (R-Morton), who said the bill's purpose is "to silence and intimidate pregnancy resource centers," but state Sen. Rachel Ventura (D-Joliet) said the measure is about protecting the women of Illinois by providing up-to-date and accurate information.