Illinois Sued by Employers Over Reproductive Health Bias Law (2)

Illinois was hit with a lawsuit by anti-abortion organizations challenging amendments to a state human rights law that prohibits employers from discriminating against workers based on their reproductive health decisions.

The law allegedly shows a hostility to pro-life groups that are guided by their religious beliefs in violation of their rights under the First Amendment and the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause, the complaint filed Thursday by a pregnancy center and the Catholic Diocese of Springfield, Ill., says.

New York has a similar law that is also currently being challenged by an anti-abortion center.

The Illinois amendment makes “reproductive health decisions” a protected characteristic under the statute, the complaint says. It defines the term to mean “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.” It includes reproductive health decisions in the definition of unlawful discrimination, it says.

Both the Pregnancy Care Center of Rockford and the diocese are pro-life institutions that advance their religious missions through word and deed, the complaint says. They also strive to hire individuals “who affirm and abide by their beliefs about reproduction and marriage,” it says.

But the amendment dictates how religious employers must speak and act about employees’ voluntary reproductive decisions like abortion, the complaint says. The amendment prohibits employers from disciplining or refusing to hire employees based on reproductive decisions; from engaging in speech deemed unwelcome or offensive; and providing unequal employment benefits based on reproductive decision, it says. Employers are also required to grant employees accommodations related to reproduction decisions and broadcast the requirements in employee handbooks and workplace posters, it says.

The amendment violates the plaintiffs’ right to expressive association by forcing them to associate with those who negatively affect their mission, the complaint says. It also violates their free exercise of religion by prohibiting faith-based speech and conduct related to reproduction, it says.

The amendment further violates the organizations’ right to religious autonomy by interfering with matters of their faith and internal governance, the complaint says. Their right to free speech is violated because the amendment forbids them from maintaining and communicating employment standards of conduct according to their organizational beliefs about reproduction, it says.

The organizations’ equal protection rights are also violated by the amendment because it treats them differently from other employers, the complaint says.

They seek declaratory and injunctive relief to stop the alleged violations of their rights.

The Illinois Department of Human Rights declined to comment for this story.

Alliance Defending Freedom and Mauck & Baker LLC represent the organizations.

The case is Pregnancy Care Ctr. of Rockford v. Bennett, N.D. Ill., No. 3:25-cv-50127, complaint filed 3/20/25.