The below statement can be attributed to Colleen Connell, Executive Director, ACLU of Illinois:

“We laud Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s veto today – elevating long-term public health concerns over a short-term false sense of security. President Preckwinkle today embraced the guidance of County public health experts, rejecting a proposal approved last week to release private medical information about positive COVID-19 tests to law enforcement and other first responders.

The policy adopted by a narrow majority of the County Board endangered both first responders and all County residents. Because of a lack of adequate testing, first responders should approach every call with the notion that everyone is positive for the virus. Relying on testing as the only metric ignores the reality that the virus can be spread by those who are asymptomatic and that those tested positive and were treated may no longer spread the disease.

Most important, by creating lists of those who test positive to share with law enforcement and other first responders, the County may have discouraged many in Cook County from seeking testing and treatment. This fear will be especially pronounced in communities of color, the very populations that are being affected the most directly by COVID-19. 

President Preckwinkle’s veto recognizes that a basic tenet of public health policy is adopting policies that encourage everyone to seek treatment during a pandemic, not discourage participation. Protecting private medical information is the type of policy that will encourage testing and treatment. We appreciate that President Preckwinkle recognized this reality.”

In response to a proposed Cook County Board resolution compelling the disclosure of private health information to law enforcement and other first responders against the recommendation of public health experts, the ACLU of Illinois submitted testimony today strongly opposed to the measure. In testimony to the Commissioners, Executive Director Colleen Connell warned the board that sharing private medical information – the identities of all people in Cook County who have tested positive for COVID-19 – would undermine public health, increase the risk of spreading the virus, and violate federal and state legal protections.

“The Illinois Department of Public Health does not recommend disclosing the personal health information of those who test positive for COVID-19, including their names and addresses,” the letter reads. “Public health experts are unified in urging first responders to treat every member of the public with whom they come into contact as potentially infectious because any list of people who test positive for COVID-19 is incomplete.” 

The resolution before the Cook County Board comes after EMS and law enforcement agencies from across the County went to court seeking to force the release of the private medical information. A Cook County judge rejected the request. Similar lawsuits also are moving forward in McHenry and Lake Counties.  

The ACLU letter notes that these lists will give first responders a false sense of security, and that the release of test results will discourage many from seeking the testing and treatment that is crucial to ending the pandemic. 

“Upholding individual privacy is what will best protect the people in Cook County who need to access medical care, the broader public health, and first responders themselves during the current pandemic. For those compelling reasons, the ACLU of Illinois opposes the enactment of this resolution,” the letter concludes.
 

A simple truth of the past few years is that ideological anti-abortion forces will use any excuse, any opportunity and any misinformation to advance their cause. Pushing legislation based on faulty, even non-existent, science? No problem. A single anecdote or news story taken out of context? Push reckless state legislation designed to invite our nation’s Supreme Court to strike down the fundamental holding in Roe v. Wade. 

With this recent history, it is little wonder that politicians committed to ending access to safe and legal abortion have used the global pandemic as a shameful excuse to advance their reckless agenda. 

Happily, the State of Illinois has rejected that path, assuring that abortion care remains available and accessible. Governor JB Pritzker’s executive order EO 2020-10 (COVID EO No. 8) responding to the pandemic specifically listed “reproductive healthcare providers” as providing critical care, meaning that residents in Illinois may leave their homes to access this health care. This inclusion is consistent with what medical experts at the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology have said: “Abortion is an essential component of comprehensive health care. It is also a time-sensitive service for which a delay of several weeks, or in some cases days, may increase the risks or potentially make it completely inaccessible. The consequences of being unable to obtain an abortion profoundly impact a person’s life, health, and well-being.”

The Governor’s recognition of the critical nature of abortion care is not happenstance, nor a stroke of luck in this moment. Our State continues to value access to health care--all health care. Last year, reflecting this value, Illinois adopted the Reproductive Health Act, enshrining in state law that the ability to have an abortion is a fundamental.  

The push for abortion restrictions has been historically rooted in sexism towards women. Even beyond our work to draft, lobby and implement the RHA, the ACLU of Illinois has fought for decades to eliminate barriers to accessing abortion care, including the very types of barriers that now are pushing abortion care even more out of reach in other states. These include waiting periods before one can access abortion, requirements for forced and unnecessary ultrasounds before treatment is provided, forced state-mandated lectures on supposed “harms” from abortion care, and attempts to apply stringent regulations on clinics that provide abortion care in hopes of making the care virtually impossible.   

All of these restrictions have been resisted in Illinois. 

Still, we have work to do in our state and beyond our borders. Illinois still enforces a dangerous and unnecessary Parental Notification of Abortion law forcing minors seeking abortion care in our state to notify one of a designated set of adults before they seek care. It is harmful and we must repeal this law. And we need Illinois legislators to continue to lead the fight to repeal the federal ban on government-provided health care covering abortion care. 

We know making these changes will be hard. Our opponents are organized and dedicated. Their willingness to use a pandemic in which tens of thousands of our neighbors, friends and family members have died to advance their agenda is proof. But we are not letting up and we will not ignore their persistent efforts to restrict fundamental rights.