(The Chicago Tribune)—An Illinois anti-abortion organization alleges in a federal lawsuit that Gov. J.B. Pritzker has unconstitutionally allowed certain groups to disregard the state’s limits on the number of people who can gather together while holding other groups to a different standard.
The lawsuit, filed in Chicago late Tuesday by Illinois Right to Life, seeks a temporary restraining order allowing the organization to gather in groups of more than 10 or 50 people.
Citing the recent wave of demonstrations that has attracted thousands of people and the exemption given to places of worship, Illinois Rights to Life alleges Pritzker has declined to enforce state rules for some causes and provided leniency for others.
“The governor has said it’s OK for some organizations to gather, to fundraise and to rally support around their cause, but everyone else faces the threat of police enforcement or being shut down,” said Mary Kate Knorr, executive director of Illinois Right to Life.
“Our request is simple: Equal treatment under the law. We want to be able to get our message out and do our work just like the other advocacy organizations and social causes that the governor has permitted to do so.”
The governor’s office said in response that prior lawsuits against the stay-at-home order haven’t been successful.
The Illinois attorney general’s office will handle the case.
On Friday, Illinois enters the fourth phase of the state’s coronavirus reopening plan that allows gatherings of more than 50 people.
The group typically has gatherings of more than 10 or 50 people for training sessions, rallies in public places connected to anti-abortion causes, panel discussions and speaking engagements at schools and churches, the lawsuit said.
Last month, Pritzker faced a spate of legal challenges from Chicago-area churches that challenged the governor’s stay-at-home order that limited the number of people who could gather for in-person religious services.