“Illinois’ Billionaire Governor should get out his own check book for abortion payments instead of raiding the resources of students and families across the state,” said Students for Life’s Kristan Hawkins. “If he loves abortion so much, why doesn’t Pritzker pay for it?” 

Out this Week: Students for Life of America et al. v.  Ann Gillespie et al.

WASHINGTON, D.C. & SPRINGFIELD, IL (11-20-2024) –Students for Life of America (SFLA) joined other pro-life organizations operating in Illinois, along with individuals living and working the state, in a lawsuit to permanently enjoin the enforcement of Illinois’ mandates because the state’s “law requires health-insurance policies to cover elective abortions on the same terms as they cover pregnancy-related benefits,” notes a lawsuit filed this week. 

SFLA President Kristan Hawkins made the following comments: “If billionaire Gov. J.B. Pritzker wants to pay for abortions in his state out of the generosity of his heart, that can be his choice. Instead, Pritzker and state officials have manipulated and supported a law to force all Illinois residents to cover his choice of abortion for them. In fact, when spending his money in the election, it was to get more radical abortion policies in place, to demand others to pay for abortion. Students for Life of America’s team members, student leaders, and supporters in Illinois should not be forced to violate our consciences just because the abortion lobby and it’s cheerleaders like the governor have moved from ‘choice’ to coercion. We don’t want our students to have to pay for abortions via their student fees and health insurance, betraying their beliefs in the value of each and every preborn life.” 

The case: Students for Life of America; Midwest Bible Church; Pro-Life Action League; Illinois Right to Life; Clapham School; DuPage Precision Products; Michael Flynn; Kolby Atchison; Jaclyn Cornell; Ann Scheidler; Eric Scheidler; Matthew Yonke v. Ann Gillespie, in her official capacity as acting director of the Illinois Department of Insurance; Kwame Raoul, in his official capacity as attorney general of Illinois; J.B. Pritzker, in his official capacity as governor of Illinois.

READ HERE

Handling the case, Peter Breen, Thomas More Society Executive Vice President & Head of Litigation, said: “For Christians and many other pro-life advocates, Illinois’ abortion-coverage mandate is fundamentally opposed to their religious beliefs and runs roughshod over their constitutionally protected conscience rights. Governor J.B. Pritzker and his administration are on an uncompromising campaign to transform the Land of Lincoln into the nation’s abortion capital. In doing so, they have shown little-to-no regard for the rights of those who believe that all human life is worth protecting. We are proud to represent this coalition of clients in challenging this unconscionable mandate. There’s no reason for pro-life individuals and organizations to be denied the option to choose an insurance policy that exempts them from covering others’ elective abortions.”

The lawsuit notes that Illinois’ law not only demands “elective abortion” to be covered, “It also

requires health-insurance policies to cover abortion-inducing drugs, and it forbids insurers to impose any cost-sharing arrangements such as co-pays or deductibles on this coverage. These abortion-inducing drugs must be provided free of charge to any beneficiary who demands them, and they are paid for entirely by premiums charged to other beneficiaries.

“As a result, Illinois residents who oppose abortion have no way of obtaining state-regulated health insurance that excludes abortion coverage, forcing many of them to choose between paying for other people’s elective abortions with their premiums or forgoing health insurance entirely.

“Illinois’s compulsory abortion-coverage laws abridge the free exercise of religion and other constitutional rights secured by the First and Fourteenth Amendments. They also violate numerous federal statutes, including 18 U.S.C. §§ 1461–1462, the Coates–Snowe amendment (42 U.S.C. § 238n(a)), and the Weldon Amendment. The plaintiffs bring suit to permanently enjoin their enforcement.”

Also noted in the legal action: “Each of the organizational plaintiffs exists to oppose abortion and protect unborn children from murderous acts of violence. 

“They all express anti-abortion messages and associate for the purpose of propagating those anti-abortion messages. Forcing the organizational plaintiffs to pay for abortions as a condition of providing health insurance to their employees affects in a significant way their ability to advocate those viewpoints, because they must either: (1) Refuse to provide health insurance to their employees, which makes it difficult to recruit and retain capable staff members; or (2) Aid and abet the very behaviors that they condemn, which undercuts the credibility of their anti-abortion message and exposes them to charges of hypocrisy. Whatever choice they make will ‘affect in a significant way the group’s ability to advocate public or private viewpoints.’” 

For interviews, contact  [email protected]  

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The Pro-Life Generation (PLG) is an umbrella organization encompassing the most-cutting edge engagement opportunities for a Vote Pro-Life First Community. PLG includes Students for Life Action (SFLAction), a 501c4, along with its 501c3 sister organization, Students for Life of America (SFLA), that together make up the nation’s largest, pro-life youth organization, managing a grassroots political and policy operation engaging Americans of all ages but with a special emphasis on the largest segment of voters — the Youth Vote. Headquartered in Fredericksburg, VA, PLG/SFLA/SFLAction serves more than 1,500 groups on middle, high school, college, medical, and law school campuses in all 50 states. Our team has more conversations with this generation targeted by the abortion lobby than any other pro-life operation in the world, each week reaching more than 4 million across social media platforms and averaging 1.3 million video views. In addition to SFLA/SFLAction, PLG leads multiple initiatives to lead and serve  the future of the pro-life movement including the Campaign for Abortion Free Cities, Standing With You, and the Demetree Institute for Pro-Life Advancement . Over more than 17 years, PLG CEO Kristan Hawkins has grown the operation into a nearly $20M organization, now preparing for an abortion-free America.