SPRINGFIELD, Ill. 鈥� Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias joined legislators, the Planned Parenthood of Illinois, and supporters Thursday to ban Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPR) from tracking individuals seeking abortion care.聽
House Bill 3326 passed the Illinois General Assembly in May and awaits the governor's consideration. No other state specifically forbids ALPRs from being used to track or penalize people seeking abortion care or from criminalizing a person's immigration status.
鈥淣o one seeking abortion care in Illinois should be harassed in any fashion, and I鈥檓 committed to enabling individuals to pursue and obtain the lawful healthcare they need without government interference,鈥� Giannoulias said.
鈥淟icense plate readers are an important tool for law enforcement 鈥� especially when apprehending suspects in violent crimes or recovering stolen vehicles in car jackings 鈥� but we need to regulate these cameras so they aren鈥檛 abused for surveillance, tracking the data of innocent people or criminalizing lawful behavior. This legislation sets common-sense standards and protocols to ensure that license plate data is used properly.鈥�
ALPRs are operated by private companies and used in every state by most metropolitan police departments to scan license plates to provide time and location of cars in real time.
ALPR technology enables police to read thousands of license plates per minute from camera placed on roadways, streetlights, and squad cars.
Illinois, unlike more than 15 other states, currently have no regulations set on how license plate data is shared. This can potentially violate the rights of people and could jeopardize their safety.
鈥淧eople should not have to travel to a state like Illinois to receive essential health care such as abortion or gender-affirming care,鈥� said Jennifer Welch, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Illinois.
鈥淗owever, in our post-Roe聽reality, more and more health care refugees are forced to flee their home states and they shouldn鈥檛 have the added fear they are being tracked by their license plate. We applaud Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias for initiating this important legislation and Senator Sara Feigenholtz and Representative Ann Williams for sponsoring the bill which further cements Illinois鈥� status as a haven state in the Midwest. We urge Governor JB Pritzker to sign the bill.鈥�
鈥淲e are grateful to Secretary Giannoulias for championing this crucial civil liberties issue that will help ensure that Illinois remains an oasis for safe access to abortions and other reproductive healthcare,鈥� said Sarah Resnick, CEO of Personal PAC.
鈥淗B3326 ensures that those seeking healthcare in Illinois can trust that their license plate data will be secure and protected, and that Illinois law enforcement agencies and municipalities will never turn their information over to states seeking to persecute them. This legislation is a model for the nation, and we are proud to have been part of the coalition that led to its passage.鈥�
Since the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022, concerns have surfaced over the use of license plate readers to track people accessing abortions in states.
The state of Texas passed a law that offers a $10,000 cash "bounty" to anyone who succeeds in suing someone who has helped someone get an abortion.
The legislation still allows law enforcement to use ALPR technology for investigating forcible felonies, motor vehicle theft, and missing person alerts, but it protects a person's right to choose and prevents criminalization of a person's immigration status.
