Then the content item should be published

Assert the content item being viewed is published or unpublished.

Core's themes mark an unpublished item with the node--unpublished class (the "unpublished content" named selector). On a theme that prints no node classes at all, the site is asked instead: the item is requested as a visitor with no session, and a refusal (403 or 404) means it is not published. That answer assumes visitors may view published content, which is core's default.

Examples

Then the content item should be published
And the content item should be unpublished
Then the content should be unpublished
And the content item should not be unpublished
Then the content should not be published

Pattern

Then(/^(?:the )?content(?: item)? should( not)* be (published|unpublished)$/, …)

Part of @webship-js/drupal-cms-steps (github.com/webship/drupal-cms-steps), a step pack for Webship-js 2.0.x.