Democrat Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker expanded his state’s culture of death on Friday by signing a bill into law legalizing assisted suicide for terminally ill people.
Illinois is now the 12th state, plus Washington, DC, that allows physicians to assist terminally ill people in killing themselves — all in the name of “choice,” compassion, and easing end-of-life suffering. Pritzker signed the bill despite concerns from opponents that such a law could be a slippery slope (look no further than Canada) and could be used to coerce people with disabilities and financial hardships to choose death.
“I have been deeply impacted by the stories of Illinoisans or their loved ones who have suffered from a devastating terminal illness — and I have been moved by their dedication to standing up for freedom and choice at the end of life in the midst of personal heartbreak,” Pritzker said in a statement.
“Today, Illinois honors their strength and courage by enacting legislation that enables patients faced with debilitating terminal illnesses to make a decision, in consultation with a doctor, that helps them avoid unnecessary pain and suffering at the end of their lives,” he continued.
“This legislation will be thoughtfully implemented so that physicians can consult patients on making deeply personal decisions with authority, autonomy, and empathy,” he added.
The bill, called the End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act, would allow individuals who are at least 18 years old and are residents of Illinois to request and self-administer drugs to end their lives if they have a terminal disease with a prognosis of six months or less to live. The bill includes some guardrails, such as two requests with a five-day waiting period between the first and second request, physician review, informed consent requirements, and mental capacity evaluations, as well as state data collection and some conscience protections for healthcare workers.
“With this law, we are strengthening our commitment to compassionate care for every patient, bodily autonomy for every person, and basic human dignity at every stage of life,” Illinois House Majority Leader Robyn Gabel (D-Evanston) said in a statement.
The Illinois House passed the bill in May, and the Illinois Senate passed the bill on Halloween.
Thomas More Society, a conservative national public interest law firm based in Chicago, called the law’s signing “a tragic and dangerous turning point for the moral and constitutional landscape of our state.”
“This is a dark and sorrowful day for Illinois. When the state signals that some lives are no longer worth living, the most vulnerable pay the price,” said Thomas Olp, executive vice president at Thomas More Society. “Instead of offering true compassion, support, and care, this law offers a fatal prescription. That is not mercy. It is abandonment.”
“By legalizing physician-assisted suicide, the Land of Lincoln has crossed a profound moral and legal red line. As signed into law, this fatal misstep places vulnerable lives at risk, tramples the inherent dignity of human life, and erodes the foundational conscience rights of medical professionals and religious medical practices,” he added.
Olp warned that the law threatens conscience and religious liberty rights because it mandates objecting physicians refer patients to providers who will participate in ending the lives of patients.
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“The State is forcing doctors to become active participants and cooperators in a patient’s suicide — no matter if their faith, ethics, or Hippocratic Oath forbid it,” he said. “This is unconscionable coercion, plain and simple. No doctor should be ordered by the government to participate directly or indirectly in a process that deliberately ends a human life.”
Thomas More Society also said the law would force religious hospitals and clinics to have staff to promote assisted suicide on-site, as long as those employees provide lethal drugs off-site.
“This is a Trojan horse designed to violate and undermine the missions of religious healthcare institutions. Gov. Pritzker’s assisted suicide law threatens the integrity of Catholic and Christian medical institutions statewide,” Olp said.
“State law should never endorse the idea that suffering or sickness makes a life disposable,” he continued. “We urge Illinoisans, people of faith, dedicated medical professionals, and all who cherish human life, to stand with us in fighting to defend the vulnerable and protect fundamental freedoms.”
Illinois House Republicans released a statement slamming the bill as “bad for Illinois.”
“It tells the disabled, the poor, the terminally ill, those with mental health issues that they are a burden and that they have a duty to die. It is ripe for coercion and abuse by unscrupulous actors,” state Republicans said.
National Right to Life President Carol Tobias released a statement saying, “Assisted suicide it not health care, and it is not compassion.”
“This law abandons people at their most vulnerable moments and sends the message that their lives are not worth living. It sets Illinois on a path where the elderly, those with a disability or struggling with serious illness may find themselves pressured — subtly or overtly — to end their lives prematurely,” she said.
Pritzker’s office said the bill will not go into effect until September 12, 2026, “which affords participating health care providers and the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) significant lead time to implement stringent processes and protections as outlined in the law.”
Illinois joins Delaware, Vermont, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, New Jersey, Montana, Maine, Hawaii, Colorado, California, and Washington, DC, in allowing physicians to enable certain individuals to commit suicide.
A similar assisted suicide bill has been on New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s (D) desk for several months. Hochul has allegedly proposed several amendments that would add some basic guardrails to the broadly worded bill, and discussions behind the scenes are ongoing, sources familiar with the matter told a local news outlet.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton
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