SPRINGFIELD — Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday signed a controversial measure aimed at preventing people from using a decades-old law to avoid COVID-19 vaccination mandates by citing moral or religious objections.
The change to the state’s Health Care Right of Conscience Act comes as lawsuits have challenged vaccination requirements from the government and private employers by referencing a law that was intended to protect doctors and other health care workers from having to provide abortions or other reproductive services that go against their beliefs.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker mandates COVID vaccines for teachers, college students and health care workers, and imposes an indoor mask mandate for all, during a news conference at the Thompson Center in Chicago on Aug. 26, 2021. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Pritzker on Monday signed the measure, which backers say clarifies the legislative intent of the right-of-conscience law, “so that it cannot be abused or misinterpreted to jeopardize workplace safety,” he said in a statement.
“Masks, vaccines, and testing requirements are lifesaving measures that keep our workplaces and communities safe,” Pritzker, who had previously supported the measure, said. “Keeping workplaces safe is a high priority, and I applaud the General Assembly for ensuring that the Health Care Right of Conscience Act is no longer wrongly used against institutions who are putting safety and science first.”
On Oct. 28, the final day of the fall legislative session, the measure was passed on a 31-24 vote in the Senate, a day after it was approved in the House on a 64-52 vote. The measure — sponsored in the House by Democratic Reps. Robyn Gabel of Evanston and Bob Morgan of Deerfield — is slated to take effect June 1.
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While the measure became a flashpoint in battles over the government’s role in combating the pandemic, voting did not break cleanly along partisan lines. Seven of the 73 Democrats in the House joined the Republican minority in opposing the measure, while two others voted “present.” In the Senate, six Democrats sided with the GOP against the proposal, and four Democratic senators did not cast a vote.
During the House debate, Gabel said the measure would not apply to federal law that allows employees to cite religious objections in some cases, a point challenged by at least one Republican member. During the Senate debate a day later, Republicans argued a vote against the measure was a vote to protect religious liberties codified in the First Amendment.
“We’re here tonight telling the people of Illinois that their sincerely held religious beliefs ... are not valid,” Republican Sen. Terri Bryant of Murphysboro said.
But Senate President Don Harmon argued there are legitimate limits to personal freedoms.
“The line of my personal liberty ends at the beginning of your nose,” Harmon said. “That’s all we’re trying to do here. We’re trying to strike a balance. This law was never intended to preclude public health responses to a pandemic. And it shouldn’t be.”
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In a committee hearing hours before the full Senate vote, Harmon said he believed that although the right-of-conscience law was “poorly drafted,” it was not intended to allow someone to get out of doing anything they don’t want to do simply by citing a moral or religious objection.
“Let’s imagine that your constituent is pulled over under suspicion of drunken driving. Could that constituent tell the officer they would refuse a Breathalyzer test on the Health Care Right of Conscience Act? Could they refuse a field sobriety test because their medical condition is being tested?” Harmon said during the hearing.
Republican Sen. Jason Barickman of Bloomington, during the same hearing, raised a familiar talking point among the GOP, criticizing Pritzker for sidestepping the legislature by issuing executive orders related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“For how long do you think the governor should be allowed to continually issue these executive orders that seem to circumvent the legislative process that allows us as a coequal branch of government an opportunity to have some input and dialogue in that? How long does that continue?” Barickman asked Harmon, who argued that the governor has the authority to issue such orders during emergencies.
Sen. Sue Rezin, a Republican from Morris, asked Harmon at the committee hearing if the revised law would include a threshold for doing away with state-mandated COVID-19 protocols — such as if Illinois gets to the point where 70% of its population is vaccinated against the virus.
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“I don’t know when COVID-19 will no longer be a public health threat,” Harmon responded. “I don’t know what those thresholds are. I don’t know that you know. And I’m fairly certain you’re going to vote ‘no’ on this.”
“So, if you’d like to work with us to fashion an alternative, I’m happy to listen and see if you want to influence the legislative process,” he said. “But if you’re just opposed to it then you can be opposed to it.”
jgorner@chicagotribune.com
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