Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Cook Co. Clerk Iris Martinez unveil Women's Right to Privacy initiative
CHICAGO (CBS) -- It's a new move to make sure women's health information stays private, even when it's part of a court case.
On Tuesday, former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot joined Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County Iris Martinez to announce a new initiative to safeguard women's reproductive health and fertility treatment information.
The Women's Right to Privacy initiative is meant to protect the information in court case files, which are currently public records.
"Women should have the right to know that when they tell the truth, that when they speak their circumstances and share their lived experience that their words reflected in court documents are going to be protected," Lightfoot said.
"The (Women's) Right to Privacy initiative will lead the nation in safeguarding women's rights by automatically sealing any court records that contain women's reproductive health information," added Martinez.
The clerk said her office will use new technology to review, redact, and seal more than 100 million cases in Cook County.
"We cannot expect women to trust the court system to protect them if we continue to allow private reproductive health and fertility treatment information to remain accessible to the public," Martinez said. "In these uncertain times, it's crucial that reproductive health remains a private matter. Together, we can protect women and create a model that can be replicated nationwide."
She said her office has, over the last three years, digitized almost 100 million files as well as introduced new technologies into the courtrooms of Cook County.