093_SB0140

 
                                     LRB093 05270 RLC 05360 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,
 
                             -4-     LRB093 05270 RLC 05360 b
 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
 
                             -6-     LRB093 05270 RLC 05360 b
 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
 
                             -7-     LRB093 05270 RLC 05360 b
 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 Illinois Labor  Dispute
 7    Act.
 8        (5)  To  preclude  prosecution under this Section and any
 9    other provision of law, except as provided in subsection  (c)
10    of Section 20.