Welcome to the TMS Weekly Dispatch for December 15, 2025—with the latest news and updates from the front line, to keep you in-the-know on all things Thomas More Society. If you missed last week’s edition, you can read it here.  

Here’s the latest from the past week:

ILLINOIS CROSSES “MORAL AND LEGAL RED LINE” WITH ASSISTED SUICIDE LAW: Thomas More Society condemned Governor J.B. Pritzker’s signing of Senate Bill 1950 on December 12, calling the law legalizing physician-assisted suicide “a tragic and dangerous turning point for the moral and constitutional landscape of our state.”

“This is a dark and sorrowful day for Illinois,” said Thomas Olp, TMS Executive Vice President. “When the state signals that some lives are no longer worth living, the most vulnerable pay the price. Instead of offering true compassion, support, and care, this law offers a fatal prescription. That is not mercy. It is abandonment.”

Beyond putting vulnerable lives at risk and eroding the dignity of human life, the law threatens the conscience rights of physicians and the freedom of association of religious medical institutions. SB 1950 requires physicians who object to assisted suicide on moral or religious grounds to refer patients to providers who will participate in ending their lives—forcing doctors to become active participants in a patient’s suicide, regardless of their faith, ethics, or Hippocratic Oath.

The law also forces religious hospitals and clinics to retain staff who promote assisted deaths on-site, as long as those staff provide lethal drugs off-site. “This is a Trojan horse designed to violate and undermine the missions of religious healthcare institutions,” Olp emphasized.

“We will defend the right of every healthcare professional to practice medicine consistent with their conscience and oath, and we will fight any state effort to force religious healthcare institutions to violate their beliefs.”

Read our full statement on the signing of SB 1950, the “End-of-Life Options Act.”

VICTORY: SCHOOL DISTRICT CAPITULATES TO TMS DEMAND: Following an earlier demand letter from TMS attorneys on behalf of parent group Kirkwood for Educational Integrity, Kirkwood School District (KSD) removed an “LGBTQ+ History Month” video from student devices upon parental request and committed to comply with its obligations to religious parents under the Supreme Court's Mahmoud v. Taylor decision.

The district had broadcast the video to an entire middle school without giving parents advance notice or opt-out opportunities—a direct violation of the landmark June 2025 decision holding that reading biased “LGBTQ+ storybooks” to children without notice and opt-out options violates the First Amendment.

“Kirkwood’s capitulation is a great victory for parental rights and religious freedom,” said TMS Senior Counsel Michael McHale. “No longer can public schools shun and ignore parents’ religious objections to LGBTQ+ promotional content. All parents have a right to direct the religious upbringing of their children, and we appreciate KSD's long-overdue willingness to acknowledge those rights.”

However, Thomas More Society issued a follow-up letter clarifying KSD’s obligation to provide advance notice and opt-out opportunities from materials it already has reason to know would likely interfere with parents’ religious beliefs, and emphasized it will closely monitor the district's compliance. Senior Counsel Mary Catherine Martin noted that given KSD’s history of deflecting parents, “we'll believe their new ‘commitments’ when our clients see action.”

COAST GUARD VETERAN SUBMITS TESTIMONY TO PRES. TRUMP’S RELIGIOUS LIBERTY COMMISSION: Eric Jackson, a 20-year Coast Guard veteran and lead plaintiff in the TMS landmark religious accommodation lawsuit, submitted testimony to President Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission detailing the coercion, threats of dishonorable discharge, and discriminatory treatment he endured after requesting a religious accommodation based on his Christian beliefs.

Jackson's testimony exposed the systemic constitutional violations stemming from the Coast Guard’s religious accommodation process, which categorically denied religious accommodation requests. His case, Jackson v. Noem, is helping trigger major changes in Coast Guard policies after the Fifth Circuit recognized that the Coast Guard's process violated service members' constitutional rights.

“Eric Jackson’s story shows what can happen when military leaders forget their own obligations to the Constitution,” said Nathan Loyd, TMS Staff Counsel. “His willingness to speak openly after years of retaliation gives the Religious Liberty Commission firsthand evidence of how deeply broken the system was.”

Senior Counsel Michael McHale emphasized that Jackson’s testimony comes at a pivotal moment, as Thomas More Society nears a historic resolution with the Coast Guard: “This Commission now has the opportunity and the responsibility to ensure that religious liberty is never again treated as an afterthought in the military.”

Read more by clicking here.