Illinois Baptist State Association et al. v. Illinois Department of Insurance

Thomas More Society filed a lawsuit on June 10, 2020, against the State of Illinois, challenging a 2019 law requiring all health insurance policies sold in the state to provide coverage for chemical and surgical abortions, with no exemptions, even for churches.

The complaint was filed in the Sangamon County Circuit Court on behalf of the Illinois Baptist State Association, the Southland Smiles dental practice and its owner, and a freight company and its owner. The lawsuit charges the state with abuses of the Illinois Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act in relation to the abortion insurance mandate. The lawsuit charges that Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, the Department of Insurance, and its director, Robert Muriel, have refused to protect the plaintiffs’ sincerely held religious beliefs, which forbid them from funding and providing coverage for abortions.