Illinois law threatens religious employers' right to hire staff who share their beliefs, ADF warns

By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter Monday, August 12, 2024

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker delivers his first budget address to a joint session of the Illinois House and Senate at the Illinois State Capitol on February 20, 2019, in Springfield, Illinois. | E. Jason Wambsgans/Pool/Getty Images

A new Illinois law will threaten religious employers' ability to hire employees that align with their deeply held beliefs as the state works to demonstrate its commitment to upholding a right to abortion, a prominent religious liberty law firm contends.

Illinois' Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed House Bill 4867 into law Wednesday. Pritzker's approval of the measure comes after the Democratic-controlled Illinois House of Representatives passed the legislation in a 72-39 vote and the Democratic-controlled Senate advanced it in a 40-19 vote earlier this year. Both votes fell along party lines, with all support for the bill coming from Democrats and all opposition coming from Republicans.

The measure amends the Illinois Human Rights Act to prohibit discrimination based on "reproductive health decisions." It defines "reproductive health decisions" as "a person's decisions regarding the person's use of: contraception, fertility or sterilization care; assisted reproductive technologies; miscarriage management care; healthcare related to the continuation or termination of pregnancy; or prenatal, intranatal, or postnatal care."

The nonprofit religious freedom civil rights organization Alliance Defending Freedom denounced the legislation in a statement published Thursday, warning that it "threatens the statutory and constitutional rights of religious and pro-life lawyers."

ADF Senior Counsel Greg Baylor, who serves as director of the ADF Center for Religious Schools, maintained that the bill would "force people or organizations to violate their religious beliefs," which he described as "unconstitutional."

"Many organizations, including religious and mission-driven entities, maintain their unique character through their personnel choices," he added. "These employers advance their missions and communicate their messages by hiring and retaining people who wholeheartedly support and share the organization's mission and message. HB 4867 destroys that essential freedom."

Baylor believes the enactment of the bill will prevent organizations such as pro-life pregnancy centers, churches and religious schools from hiring "only those who share and communicate their beliefs on the sanctity of human life."

"We are disappointed to see this dangerous legislation signed into law, as it plainly violates the First Amendment freedoms of pro-life employers in Illinois," Baylor said.

During a press conference, Pritzker defended the law as necessary.

"We are guaranteeing that women cannot be discriminated against in housing, employment, public accommodations for reproductive health decisions, whether that be abortion, [in-vitro fertilization], fertility treatment and more," he said. "We need to build in greater protections so that no one has the fear of retribution or liability for obtaining safe and legal healthcare."

House Bill 4867 was one of three bills approved by Pritzker Wednesday. It aims to "send a single, straightforward message" that "Illinois will always be a place where women have the freedom to make their own medical decisions." He said the measure pushes back against "efforts to restrict and punish women seeking to exercise their rights and control over their own bodies."

Pritzker also approved House Bill 581, which requires hospitals to perform abortions when "abortion is necessary to resolve the patient's injury or acute medical condition that is liable to cause death or severe injury or serious illness." The legislation passed the Illinois House in a 73-36 vote and cleared the Senate in a 40-19 vote.

The third measure approved by Pritzker, House Bill 5239, declares that "Unless otherwise necessary to comply with Illinois or federal law, the State shall not provide any information or expend or use any time, money, facilities, property, equipment, personnel, or other resources to assist any individual, or out-of-state officer, official, agency, entity, or department seeking to impose civil or criminal liability upon a person or entity for lawful healthcare activity."

The legislation cleared the Senate 38-19 and passed the House in a 72-37 vote. The term "lawful healthcare" refers to "reproductive health care" and "treatment of gender dysphoria or the affirmation of an individual's gender identity or gender expression, including, but not limited to, all supplies, care, and services of a medical, behavioral health, mental health, surgical, psychiatric, therapeutic, diagnostic, preventative, rehabilitative, or supportive nature."

Like the other pieces of legislation approved by Pritzker Wednesday, the vote for House Bill 5329 fell along party lines.

Illinois is one of 16 states that has a "shield law" in place to prevent residents of states where gender transition procedures for bans of minors are banned from facing persecution for traveling to Illinois to receive procedures.

Illinois is also one of 13 states with laws protecting the right to abortion before the point of viability, referring to the point of pregnancy where the unborn baby can survive outside the womb.

Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com