{"id":6163,"date":"2015-05-12T00:17:37","date_gmt":"2015-05-12T07:17:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6163"},"modified":"2018-03-06T13:05:31","modified_gmt":"2018-03-06T21:05:31","slug":"an-open-letter-to-the-illinois-legislature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6163","title":{"rendered":"An Open Letter to the Illinois Legislature"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>The state should vote down a bill that would trample on citizen conscience rights<\/h2>\n<p><strong><em>National Review<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Robert P. George<\/p>\n<p>To the members of the Illinois Legislature:<\/p>\n<p>I understand that you are considering passing SB 1564, a bill to amend the existing laws of Illinois that protect freedom of conscience. I urge you not to do so, as SB 1564 fatally weakens the conscience rights of Illinois citizens.<\/p>\n<p>SB 1564 would amend existing law to, among other things, add a new section regarding \u201caccess to care and information protocols.\u201d This section would require \u201chealth care facilities, physicians, and health care personnel\u201d who are opposed <em>for reasons of conscience<\/em> to performing an abortion to, nevertheless, \u201crefer, transfer, or give information\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0about other health care providers who they reasonably believe may offer\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0the\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0service,\u201d which includes abortion. In so providing, SB 1564 violates elementary notions of conscience protection.. . [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/article\/418259\/open-letter-illinois-legislature-robert-p-george\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Full text<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a title=\"Illinois controversy about legislative overreach\" href=\"http:\/\/consciencelaws.org\/blog\/?p=6141\" target=\"_blank\"> Illinois controversy about legislative overreach<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The state should vote down a bill that would trample on citizen conscience rights National Review Robert P. George To the members of the Illinois Legislature: I understand that you are considering passing SB 1564, a bill to amend the existing laws of Illinois that protect freedom of conscience. I urge you not to do &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6163\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;An Open Letter to the Illinois Legislature&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5432,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,8,9,760,28],"tags":[3243,191,307],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-6163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abortion","category-legal-commentary","category-news","category-proposed-laws","category-usa","tag-health-care-right-of-conscience-act-illinois","tag-illinois","tag-robert-p-george"],"yoast_head":"\r\n<title>An Open Letter to the Illinois Legislature - Protection of Conscience Project News<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6163\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"An Open Letter to the Illinois Legislature - Protection of Conscience Project News\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The state should vote down a bill that would trample on citizen conscience rights National Review Robert P. George To the members of the Illinois Legislature: I understand that you are considering passing SB 1564, a bill to amend the existing laws of Illinois that protect freedom of conscience. 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