Religious liberty is not a sentimental luxury—it is a sacred protection of conscience that ensures citizens, especially faith-based institutions, can live and act according to their deepest convictions without government coercion. Yet in Illinois, that fundamental freedom is under direct assault.

A Law That Compels Participation in Evil

The Illinois Reproductive Health Act (RHA) promotes unfettered access to abortion, treating it not as a tragic moral decision but as a routine form of “health care.” We reject the notion that the taking of innocent life can ever be justified—not as a means of avoiding responsibility, nor as a remedy for criminal violence. Human life is sacred, created in the image of God, and must be protected from conception to natural death.

Every human being bears the image of God, and any law that disregards that truth not only devalues preborn life but also violates the conscience of those who believe life is sacred. By forcing faith-based employers to pay for abortion coverage, Illinois has moved from permitting evil to compelling participation in it.

This mandate is not merely inconvenient—it is coercive. It demands that churches, ministries, and religious employers subsidize practices they regard as gravely immoral. That is precisely the kind of state overreach our Founding Founders sought to prevent when they enshrined religious liberty in the First Amendment.

What the Law Requires

Under the RHA, every health insurance plan regulated by the Illinois Department of Insurance that offers pregnancy-related benefits must also include abortion coverage. In effect, abortion becomes a guaranteed “covered benefit” in nearly every employer health plan in Illinois.

For many faith-based entities, this presents a cruel dilemma: either violate their convictions by funding abortion coverage, or forgo offering health insurance to employees altogether—an outcome that punishes both the employer and the worker.

The Illinois Baptist State Association (IBSA) and its attorneys have pointed out that the only health insurance option currently available in Illinois that excludes abortion coverage is through an out-of-state provider, which is prohibitively expensive or impractical for most ministries. The supposed “alternatives” offered by the state are nothing more than illusions of freedom.

A Legal Challenge Rooted in Conscience

In 2020, the IBSA, represented by the Thomas More Society, filed suit challenging the RHA’s insurance mandate as a violation of Illinois’ own Religious Freedom Restoration Act (IRFRA). The argument is simple: the law substantially burdens the exercise of religion by coercing believers to pay for abortions.

Earlier this year, the Fourth District Illinois Appellate Court heard the case—but in August 2025, it sided with the state. The court claimed that religious employers could simply avoid the mandate by not offering insurance or by purchasing out-of-state plans. But that reasoning ignores reality. Most religious employers are compelled—both morally and practically—to care for their employees. Forcing them to choose between moral integrity and employee welfare is no choice at all.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul applauded the ruling, boasting that it reaffirms Illinois’ commitment to “comprehensive reproductive health care.” In truth, it reaffirms the state’s hostility toward people of faith who refuse to bend the knee to the idol of abortion.

Why the Court’s Logic Fails

The appellate court’s reasoning fails on several fronts:

1.) Complicity in abortion is not trivial. To pay for abortion coverage is to participate—however indirectly—in the destruction of innocent life. For Christians, that is not a matter of personal preference but of serious moral consequence.

2.) Religious liberty demands accommodation. As the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, government cannot compel citizens to violate their faith when less restrictive alternatives exist. Illinois should do no less.

3.) Freedom not to provide insurance is not freedom. The idea that faith-based employers can simply drop health coverage ignores the Christian ethic of caring for one’s employees. It’s a form of economic coercion disguised as neutrality.

4.) No genuine alternative exists. The court’s suggestion that employers may buy insurance elsewhere is hollow when the only “abortion-free” plans are financially out of reach or lack essential coverage. The supposed “choice” is illusory.

The Broader Implications

This battle is not merely about health insurance—it is about whether government can violate First Amendment protections to compel Christian citizens to underwrite the grievous moral evil of shedding innocent blood. Once the state seizes the tyrannical power to force citizens to finance its idol of abortion, there remains no logical or moral barrier to mandating participation in other assaults on God’s created order—gender mutilation, assisted suicide, or any practice that defies biblical truth and human dignity.

When government demands that faith-based employers fund the killing of preborn children, it transforms from protector to persecutor. And make no mistake—Illinois’ mandate is a form of persecution. It punishes the conviction that life is sacred and conscience is not for sale.

A Call to Preserve Conscience

Members of the Illinois legislative and judicial branches must reconsider this course. If the state is truly committed to both liberty and justice, it must provide real religious exemptions to protect those who cannot, in good conscience, fund abortion.

The church must also remain steadfast. Our loyalty is not to Caesar but to Christ, who commands us to “rescue those being led away to death” (Proverbs 24:11). We cannot compromise on this fundamental truth: life is sacred, and conscience must remain free.

Until Illinois respects both, it will continue to stand guilty of violating the very liberties it claims to defend.