Case: Illinois Baptist State Association v. Illinois Department of Insurance

This case is about a challenge to an Illinois law requiring health insurance policies to provide coverage for abortions.

On June 10, 2020, the Illinois Baptist State Association (IBSA), two Illinois corporations–Southland Smiles, Ltd. and Rock River Cartage, Inc.–and the respective owners of those two corporations in their individual capacity, all providers of insurance to their employees, filed suit against the Illinois Department of Insurance (IDOI) and its Director in both his individual and official capacity in Illinois’s Seventh Judicial Circuit Court. The plaintiffs sought judicial review of the state’s Reproductive Health Act of 2019 (“RHA”), which mandated that every health insurance plan providing pregnancy-related benefits in Illinois also provide coverage for abortion (“the Mandate”). Plaintiffs alleged that the Mandate violated their rights under the Illinois Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act (Conscience Act) by requiring them to fund and provide health care coverage for abortion. Represented by the Thomas More Society and private counsel, plaintiffs sought declaratory and injunctive relief. The case was assigned to Judge Christopher G. Perrin.

On September 8, 2020, the IDOI filed a motion to dismiss arguing that plaintiffs lacked standing and that the claims against the Director in his individual capacity were barred by public official immunity. They also argued that plaintiffs had failed to state a claim by failing to allege a substantial burden on their religious beliefs, as neither of the mandate nor the Conscience Act applied to them. The trial court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss on April 5, 2021 but permitted the plaintiffs to file an amended complaint.

The plaintiffs filed their first amended complaint on May 3, 2021, naming the IDOI as the only defendant. IDOI moved again to dismiss the plaintiffs’ Conscience Act claim on June 30, 2021, arguing that the plaintiffs were not entities that fell under its statutory protection by definition. The trial court agreed and dismissed that claim with prejudice on September 21, 2021. In March 2023, the trial court allowed Rock River Cartage, Inc. and its owner to voluntarily dismiss their claim without prejudice. In January 2024, the trial court also allowed Southland Smiles, Inc. and its owner to dismiss their claims without prejudice.

On April 5, 2024, the parties stipulated their intention to resolve the case with motion practice and their existing fact discovery, reserving the right to engage in expert discovery if their motions for summary judgment were denied. Both parties moved for summary judgment on May 17, 2024.

On September 4, 2024, the state trial court denied IBSA’s motion for summary judgment and granted IDOI’s motion for summary judgment, thereby entering final judgment in favor of the defendants. The court found IBSA failed to meet its burden of proving that the Mandate imposed a substantial burden on their religious exercise, as it could select alternative insurance plans not subject to the Mandate and so maintain insurance coverage without conflicting with its religious beliefs. 

Having lost in the trial court, IBSA filed an appeal in the Fourth District of the Illinois’ Fourth District Appellate Court on January 8, 2025. The appellate court affirmed the trial court on October 1, 2025. 2025 IL App (4th) 241282-U. Justice Amy C. Lannerd, joined by Justices Robert J. Steigmann and David L. Vancil, Jr., substantially agreed with the trial court’s reasoning, as well as finding that the plain language of the Mandate did not include a religious accommodation. Justice Steigmann penned a special concurrence emphasizing the illegitimacy of IBSA’s argument relying on legislative history as a basis to determine legislative intent.

As of April 22, 2026, this case appears to be closed.