After a six-year wait, a lawsuit challenging an Illinois law that seeks to force doctors and pregnancy help centers to refer for abortions has gone to trial.
The law, SB 1564, “runs roughshod over the free speech, religious exercise, and conscience rights of pro-life physicians and pregnancy assistance centers,” according to the Thomas More Society, which filed the joint lawsuit with Alliance Defending Freedom; The justice organizations represent 10 Care Net-affiliated pregnancy centers, a physician, and the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates.
Passed in 2016, SB 1564 forced pregnancy care centers, medical facilities, and physicians who are conscientious objectors to participating in abortions to adopt policies that provide women seeking abortions with a list of provider that they “reasonably believe can offer” them.
In July 2017, a federal judge issued a statewide preliminary injunction against the implementation of SB 1564 in a similar lawsuit challenging the law, National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, et al. v. Treto, Jr. That case is now consolidated.
“No one should be forced to express a message that violates their beliefs,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot. “The government cannot force medical professionals to choose between breaking the law or breaking the Hippocratic Oath without harm. The Illinois law targets pro-life pregnancy centers and doctors specifically because they are staunchly opposed to abortion.”
“Our clients have spent decades helping women choose life for their unborn babies,” said Thomas Olp, Thomas More Society Executive Vice President and attorney for the plaintiffs. “Our clients see this as a malicious attempt by the abortion industry to protect its abortion business by appeasing pro-life physicians and pregnancy resource centers, who, without a profit motive, try to convince pregnant women to choose life for their unborn child—not abortion.”
The three-day trial ended on September 22, 2023. A decision is expected in the coming months. Illinois pregnancy centers represented in the proceedings include 1st Way Life Center, Johnsburg; Focus Women’s Center, McHenry; Pregnancy Aid South Suburbs (PASS), three locations; Mosaic Health, two locations; TLC Pregnancy Services, Elgin; and Informed Choices, two locations.
The plaintiffs’ case included testimony from pregnancy center representatives who talked about how the law would violate religious beliefs as other abortion laws do.
Judy Cocks, Executive Director of Women’s Help Services (which oversees 1st Way Life Center and Focus Women’s Center), spoke on the main reasons why SB 1564 violates the conscience of those who serve at pregnancy help centers. “We’re faith-based and that informs everything we do,” he said.
Cocks noted that some 1st Way volunteers are post-abortive women and choose to volunteer at the pregnancy help center precisely because of those experiences. “There is no medical benefit to abortion,” she said.
Pasha Bohlen, Nurse Manager of Pregnancy Aid South Suburbs (PASS), testified to the resources, services, and counseling women receive every day at her pregnancy aid centers.
“We don’t want to bait and switch… we want to be real,” he said. Specifying abortion or sharing the so-called “benefits” of abortion would be “against the very foundation of our ministry,” Bohen added.
ADF Senior Counsel Theriot said it is unconstitutional to force people to promote abortion. As precedent, he pointed to a 2018 Supreme Court decision in a similar California Case, NIFLA against Becerra.
Regarding the pending case in Illinois, Theriot urged the court to “finally put this issue to rest and allow pro-life pregnancy centers to continue their pro-life work without fear of government punishment.”
