Illinois Senate Bill 1564 amends the Health Care Right of Conscience Act and will require medical professionals to go against their religious conscience by referring patients for abortions and counseling patients on what the legislation calls the “benefits” of abortion. Tom Brejcha, President & Chief Counsel, Thomas More Society released the following statement:

Devout physicians, nurses, and other health care personnel will now have to choose between losing their jobs or violating their conscientious religious beliefs after Governor Bruce Rauner signed Senate Bill 1564 into Illinois law on July 29, 2016.

This controversial new law utterly destroys what had been strong protections for healthcare workers’ rights of conscience here in Illinois. It is squarely in the teeth of an entire cluster of federal laws that prohibit states from requiring healthcare workers to participate in or refer for abortions. SB 1564 is thus both illegal and unconstitutional, and its signing will trigger years of contentious, difficult, and expensive litigation. It will force Illinois’ people of faith and other Illinois pro-lifers to file lawsuits to protect and enforce their fundamental rights to freely exercise and abide by the tenets of their religious faith while continuing to practice their profession, serving the health needs of their fellow citizens and supporting their families.

It is deeply regrettable that these Illinois taxpayers must now sue the state government they have been loyally supporting with their tax dollars, merely because too many Illinois officials have felt compelled to appease Illinois’ entrenched pro-abortion lobby.