The Diocese of Springfield doesn’t want to hire abortion-rights activists, but the church worries that refusing to do so based on their pro-choice views may violate Illinois law.
The diocese and the Pregnancy Care Center in Rockford sued to block a newly enacted amendment to the Illinois Human Rights Act that extends protected status to “reproductive health decisions,” arguing that the law prevents them from screening out prospective staffers who oppose their mission.
“Our employees represent the Diocese and are expected to uphold our standards of conduct to ensure they align with the doctrine and moral teaching of the Catholic Church,” said Bishop Thomas John Paprocki in a Friday statement. “However, under the state law, we cannot hire or retain employees based on our deeply held religious beliefs on pro-life teachings without being subject to disciplinary action.”
The lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Northern Division of Illinois (Western Division) challenges the amendment, House Bill 4867, which took effect Jan. 1.
The complaint said the diocese and center are already in violation of the law’s employment, accommodations and “offensive speech” clauses for a host of reasons, starting with their refusal to welcome employees who seek to obtain or facilitate abortions.
The diocese is known for its anti-abortion emphasis, which includes hosting the annual Mass for Life and helping organize the annual Illinois Pro-Life March.
Then there’s the diocese’s Office of Marriage and Family Life, which “violates the Offensive Speech Clause through its frequent statements that marriage and the conjugal act must be open to life, such that contraception, sterilization, abortion, and objectional reproductive treatments are sinful, immoral, and unjust,” the lawsuit said.
Similarly, the center regularly runs afoul of the speech clause with its “pervasive and severe speech and conduct to express its message that all life is sacred and that sex should be reserved for marriage.”
The law does contain a religious exemption for employers in “all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief,” but the complaint said the exemption doesn’t include “conduct in matters of reproduction.”
Mark Lippelmann, Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel, said, “Illinois can’t force pro-life organizations to bend their knee to the state’s secular view of abortion.”
He added, “The Constitution protects the right of religious organizations to choose workers who will advance — rather than contradict — their religious beliefs. We urge the court to uphold these organizations’ fundamental right to serve their communities consistent with their faith.”
The bill was one of three measures signed in August by Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who said they were needed to counter “the Supreme Court and other bad actors” from restricting abortion access.
Illinois state Sen. Laura Fine, another Democrat, said the amendment was intended to “safeguard patients from discriminatory practices based on their reproductive health decisions.”
“HB 4867 affords the respect and dignity to reproductive health decisions that would be afforded to any other personal health care decision,” she said.
