Attorney General Alan Wilson defends the First Amendment rights of pro-life Americans

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – Attorney General Alan Wilson recently joined a 20-state friend-of-the-court brief in support of the First Amendment right of the Pregnancy Care Center of Rockford, Illinois, at the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

The PCC of Rockford holds to a traditional Christian teaching on human life and sexuality and expect their employees to uphold those teachings. But the Illinois Human Rights Act prohibits ministries from refusing to hire individuals based on their “reproductive health decisions.”

“The right of pro-life organizations to hire consistent with their worldview is common sense,” Attorney General Wilson said. “It is wholly inaccurate to think the State can infringe on the First Amendment right of religious organizations.”

The Illinois Act appears to promote abortion, and it exceeds what the First Amendment allows. The Act requires all covered employers, which includes religious employers, to treat “reproductive health decisions” as a protected characteristic. The requirement to accommodate personal decisions that contravene the employers’ religious beliefs is considered by Illinois to be “appropriate” under the Act.

Attorney General Wilson joined the following states in this letter: Indiana, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

You can read the letter here.