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.
Court delivers free speech victory for Illinois pro-life pregnancy centers
Federal district court permanently blocks state law that forced centers to promote abortion
Monday, Apr 7, 2025
ROCKFORD, Ill. – A federal district court permanently blocked an Illinois law that forced pro-life pregnancy centers to promote abortion in violation of their deeply held beliefs about protecting unborn life. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys represent the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates and three pro-life pregnancy centers in a seven-year-old lawsuit against the state of Illinois.
In its decision, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois found that a provision of the law compelling the centers to promote abortion and its supposed “benefits,” regardless of their ethical, medical, or moral views, violated their freedom of speech. The centers believe that abortion does not have any medical benefits. On the contrary, it has many medical risks, such as infection, hemorrhaging, incomplete abortion, uterine perforation, cervical laceration, and even death.
“No one should be forced to express a message that violates their convictions. The court was right to protect pregnancy centers’ freedom to advocate that life is a human right,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot, who argued before the court in September 2023. “The government can’t compel medical professionals to choose between violating the law and violating the Hippocratic Oath to do no harm. 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.”
“In demanding that health care professionals discuss the benefits [of abortion] (and thereby concede to the State’s view), the State makes the providers ‘instruments in delivering a particular message,” the court wrote in National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Treto. “Ordinarily, the First Amendment bars a state from commanding this type of 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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