SPRINGFIELD, IL (Chambana Today) – Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed an executive order Wednesday preventing state agencies from collecting or sharing data about autism with the federal government, unless it is legally or medically required.
Executive Order 2025-02 comes in direct response to a new federal initiative announced earlier in the day by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which seeks to create a national autism database through agencies like the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Pritzker sharply criticized the federal plan, calling it a “threat” to the rights and dignity of individuals with disabilities. “Every Illinoisan deserves dignity, privacy, and the freedom to live without fear of surveillance or discrimination,” he said in a statement. “As Donald Trump and DOGE threaten these freedoms, we are taking steps to ensure that our state remains a leader in protecting the rights of individuals with autism and all people with disabilities.”
The order bars the sharing of autism-related data unless strictly necessary and imposes new privacy protections on any disclosures, including requirements to anonymize personal information when possible and limit the amount shared to what’s legally required.
Pritzker’s office framed the move as a direct response to recent remarks by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who referred to autism as an “epidemic” and linked the new database to a presidential directive to investigate its causes. Kennedy has previously promoted the widely debunked theory that vaccines cause autism.
“Autism is a neurological difference—not a disease or an epidemic,” Pritzker’s order stated. “Public policy should never diminish the diverse strengths and potential of this community.”
Executive orders are rarely used in Illinois; Pritzker signed just three last year. This marks his second of 2025.