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On August 6, the Governor of the state of Illinois signed four new domestic violence laws into effect. What I looked for, and did not find, was misandry encoded into the new laws.
I am not a lawyer. If you need legal advice, hire a lawyer. I am offering here my lay opinion on four new laws passed in Illinois:
- HB 958 – defines domestic violence and escalates a second conviction to a felony.
- HB3379 – mandates that schools teach on dating violence and “age appropriate” sex education (amends health code)
- HB 3300 – mandates use of alternate paths of communication when the patient requests it and it’s suspected to be domestic-violence related.
- HB 3236 – provides for education on dating violence in schools (amends school code)
Note that where the terms appear, the text does not say, “domestic violence against women” or “violence against women” but “domestic violence.” It appears (in my non-lawyer opinion) to stick to a gender-neutral paradigm, at least on paper. I’d call this a successful step away from the woman-as-victim paradigm. I’m just block-quoting the relevant passages here, though; someone more fluent in legalese may shoot my theory all to bits.
6 (720 ILCS 5/12-3.2) (from Ch. 38, par. 12-3.2)
7 Sec. 12-3.2. Domestic battery.
8 (a) A person commits domestic battery if he or she
9 knowingly without legal justification by any means:
10 (1) Causes bodily harm to any family or household
11 member;
12 (2) Makes physical contact of an insulting or provoking
13 nature with any family or household member.
defines “Teen dating violence” in relation to training teens about health, family concerns, and sex-ed
11 “Teen dating violence” means either of the following:
12 (1) A pattern of behavior in which a person uses or
13 threatens to use physical, mental, or emotional abuse to
14 control another person who is in a dating relationship with
15 the person, where one or both persons are 13 to 19 years of
16 age.
17 (2) Behavior by which a person uses or threatens to use
18 sexual violence against another person who is in a dating
19 relationship with the person, where one or both persons are
20 13 to 19 years of age.
Sec. 355b. Claim-related information; alternative means of
17 communication.
18 (a) For the purposes of this Section, “claim-related
19 information” means all claim or billing information relating
20 specifically to an insured, subscriber, or person covered by an
21 individual or group policy of accident and health insurance
22 issued, delivered, amended, or renewed by a company doing
23 business in this State.
24 (b) A company that issues, delivers, amends, or renews an
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1 individual or group policy of accident and health insurance on
2 or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 98th
3 General Assembly shall accommodate a reasonable request by a
4 person covered by a policy issued by the company to receive
5 communications of claim-related information from the company
6 by alternative means or at alternative locations if the person
7 clearly states that disclosure of all or part of the
8 information could endanger the person.
9 (c) If a child is covered by a policy issued by a company,
10 then the child’s parent or guardian may make a request to the
11 company pursuant to subsection (b) of this Section.
12 (d) A company may require (1) a person making a request
13 pursuant to subsection (b) of this Section to do so in writing,
14 (2) the request to contain a statement that disclosure of all
15 or part of the claim-related information to which the request
16 pertains could endanger the person or child, and (3) the
17 specification of an alternative address, telephone number, or
18 other method of contact.
19 (e) Except with the express consent of the person making a
20 request pursuant to subsection (b) of this Section, a company
21 may not disclose to the policyholder (1) the address, telephone
22 number, or any other personally identifying information of the
23 person who made the request or child for whose benefit a
24 request was made, (2) the nature of the health care services
25 provided, or (3) the name or address of the provider of the
26 health care services.
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1 (f) A company that makes reasonable and good faith efforts
2 to comply with this Section shall not be subject to civil or
3 criminal liability on the grounds of noncompliance with this
4 Section.
5 (g) The Director shall adopt rules to guide companies in
6 guarding against the disclosure of the information protected
7 pursuant to this Section.
8 (h) Nothing in this Section shall prevent, hinder, or
9 otherwise affect the entry of an appropriate order made in the
10 best interests of a child by a court of competent jurisdiction
11 adjudicating disputed issues of child welfare or custody.
It does make mention of mandating post-mastectomy care in another section, but that’s a different subject. It would be nice to also have, for instance, an equally valuable follow-up care after certain male urological procedures, but I don’t know what the standard of care is, where it’s stated, and actually it’s a different rabbit trail.
(b) The Eradicate Domestic Violence Task Force shall do the
17 following:
18 (1) Conduct meetings to evaluate the effectiveness and
19 feasibility of statewide implementation of the curricula
20 of the Step Back Program at Oak Park and River Forest High
21 School, located in Cook County, Illinois, for the
22 prevention of domestic violence.
23 (2) Invite the testimony of and confer with experts on
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1 relevant topics as needed.
2 (3) Propose content for integration into school
3 curricula aimed at preventing domestic violence.
4 (4) Propose a method of training facilitators on the
5 school curricula aimed at preventing domestic violence.
…
(d) The following underlying purposes should be liberally
5 construed by the task force convened under this Section:
6 (1) Recognize that, according to the Centers for
7 Disease Control and Prevention, National Intimate Partner
8 and Sexual Violence Survey, December 2010 Summary Report,
9 on average 24 people per minute are victims of rape,
10 physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in
11 the United States, equaling more than 12 million women and
12 men.
Thanks to @chicagoreport and @bernardchapin for spreading word that these passed.
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@BernardChapin check out this article on Quinn signing new DV laws. http://t.co/M23bSXixUB
— Chicago Crime Report (@chiraqreport) August 7, 2013
