A Catholic law firm urged Gov. Jay Pritzker to veto a bill in Illinois that would legalize assisted suicide, saying the bill would trample on the religious freedom rights of healthcare providers.
“Doctors should never be forced to support or participate in a deadly act that violates the deepest principles of their faith and their calling to heal,” said Peter Breen, executive vice president and head of litigation at Thomas More Society in a statement provided to Aleteia.
“Christian healthcare reflects a holy work, and these religious clinics and hospitals share a sacred bond with patients: those patients trust their caregivers to act in accordance with the religious principles of these institutions. But the General Assembly’s ‘assisted suicide’ bill would require these Christian institutions to refer for death and forbid them from ensuring that staff members do not promote or prescribe deadly drugs to patients.”
In the early morning hours of Halloween, the Illinois senate passed a bill legalizing assisted suicide in the state. It now goes to Pritzker's desk for his signature.
“The idea that some lives are not worth living is something our society should never accept," said Breen. Thomas More Society will always stand on the side of life, and we implore Governor Pritzker to stop this devastating bill before it brings irreversible harm.”
Doctors required to refer
The bill, which was originally submitted as food safety legislation, would require doctors to discuss all end-of-life options with someone who is terminally ill, including "medical aid in dying." Patients who request an assisted suicide must be capable of self-administering the medication and must ask twice verbally and once in writing.
Doctors and other healthcare professionals who do not wish to prescribe lethal doses of medication to patients will be forced to refer them to providers who will, said the Thomas More Society. This, said the firm, is a violation of their religious liberty.
Further, the law would require religiously affiliated hospitals and healthcare facilities to employ people to prescribe drugs for assisted suicide, even though the suicides themselves could occur off-site.
“This legislation represents a tragic betrayal of the most vulnerable Illinoisans and puts pressure on the elderly and disabled to judge themselves by their supposed ‘burden’ and weigh their lives in the balance,” said Breen.
He continued, “Every human being is made in God’s image, with immeasurable worth and dignity. Instead of offering real care, compassion, and support, Illinois lawmakers have chosen to promote death as a ‘solution’ to suffering.”
