Bill would remove 'conscience' as basis for refusing vaccine
ABC News
Illinois law has for more than four decades protected those who oppose providing or receiving certain medical treatment because of their religious beliefs
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Illinois law has for more than four decades protected those who oppose providing or receiving medical treatment because of their religious beliefs. Now Democrats want an exception to allow repercussions for those who refuse vaccinations in the battle against COVID-19.
Long considered a shield for physicians whose religious beliefs precluded their performing abortions, the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act has become a pandemic lightning rod. Lawsuits invoking it are challenging employers trying to enforce rules requiring testing for or inoculation against the coronavirus.
“The Health Care Right of Conscience Act was never intended to cover a pandemic where we're trying to keep people alive,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, said after a news conference in Springfield Wednesday.
The measure won House approval 64-52 late Wednesday. It now moves to the Senate. Thursday is the final day of the Legislature's fall session.
