Description: Illinois SB 1564 forces pregnancy care centers, medical facilities, and physicians who conscientiously object to involvement in abortions to adopt policies that provide women who ask for abortions with a list of providers “they reasonably believe may offer” them.
Illinois pregnancy centers continue challenge of law requiring abortion referrals
ADF attorneys file opening brief with 7th Circuit
Thursday, May 29, 2025
CHICAGO – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed their opening brief Wednesday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Treto. ADF attorneys represent the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates and three pro-life pregnancy centers in a seven-year-old case challenging Illinois laws that violate their deeply held beliefs about protecting unborn life.
In April, an Illinois district court rightly ruled that a provision of the state’s law that forces pro-life pregnancy centers to promote abortion and its supposed “benefits” is unconstitutional, compelled speech. But the court also ruled that a provision that forces pregnancy centers to refer pregnant women for an abortion is not a violation of their speech and conscience rights, prompting the appeal to the 7th Circuit.
“No one should be forced to express a message that violates their convictions, and compelling people to refer others for abortions does that,” said ADF Senior Counsel Erin Hawley, vice president of the ADF Center for Life and Regulatory Practice. “The U.S. Supreme Court held in NIFLA v. Becerra that forcing people to promote abortion is unconstitutional. Pro-life pregnancy centers must be free to continue their life-affirming work without fear of government punishment. While the lower court correctly ruled that these centers can’t be forced to advertise the so-called ‘benefits’ of abortion, it failed to protect them from being compelled to refer for abortion.”
“The district court erred by concluding that the Referral Requirement does not implicate speech at all,” ADF’s brief explains. “The Referral Requirement requires pro-life health care professionals to refer to abortion providers or to provide written information about abortion providers they believe will perform an elective abortion to receive statutory conscience protections. That is speech. Indeed, this case is controlled by NIFLA, which held that a state may not force pro-life Pregnancy Centers to ‘inform women how they can obtain … abortions’ because such a requirement ‘plainly alters the content of their speech.’”
- Pronunciation guide: Theriot (TAIR’-ee-oh)
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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