Illinois Health-Care Shield Law Doesn’t Cover Standards Setters

An Illinois law that shields state-based entities from requests for information about lawful reproductive or gender-affirming health care doesn’t apply to a professional standards-setting group, a federal court said.

Illinois lawmakers clearly intended the Lawful Health Care Activity Act to protect patients, families, and providers, the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois said May 2. The statute’s legislative text and history, however, doesn’t support an argument that the law also encompasses organizations that create and distribute general guidelines in a professional field, Magistrate Judge Keri L. Holleb Hotaling said.

The case, which involves a question that hasn’t ...