In the wee hours of October 31, the Illinois Senate narrowly passed a bill that will allow adults with a terminal illness to end their lives by giving themselves a lethal drug. Lawmakers, religious leaders, and patients’ rights advocates say the legislation is a slippery slope toward increasingly relaxed restrictions around the lethal drugs and undermines human dignity.
The vote for Senate Bill 1950 occurred at 2:55 a.m. and passed with the bare minimum of votes needed (30-27). As noted by Illinois Right to Life President Mary Kate Zander, “As is characteristic of Illinois Democrats when they want to see an unpopular bill become law, the vote was called in the middle of the night on the very last day of the session.” The bill is now on the desk of Governor J.B. Pritzker (D), who has insinuated that he will sign the measure into law, remarking, “It hits me deeply and makes me wonder … how we can alleviate the pain that they’re going through?”
The legislation specifies that in order for an adult to be eligible to obtain the lethal drugs, two physicians must determine that the individual has a terminal disease that will result in death within six months. The bill’s supporters have noted that “there are ‘over 20 guardrails in place’ to prevent coercion and abuse,” including the requirement of two verbal requests for the lethal drugs, with a five-day waiting period in between requests.
ACTION ALERT: We need everyone to call Illinois Governor JB Pritzker at 312-814-2121 or 312-814-2122 and tell him to veto assisted suicide bill SB 1950.
But religious leaders in Illinois are warning that the measure is ripe for abuse. “Doctors take an oath to do no harm. Now, they can prescribe death. There are documented cases of patients being denied treatment and instead offered life-ending drugs,” remarked Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield. “Individuals could also be coerced into taking the lethal drug.” He went on to argue that assisted suicide “undermines the value of each person, especially the vulnerable, the poor, and those with disabilities.”
Organizations like Patients Rights Action Fund also contend that state laws should instead focus on expanding hospice care, palliative support, and mental health services. “Every patient deserves compassionate care and a full spectrum of options to live with dignity,” the group said in a statement. “The passage of SB 1950 introducing the use of lethal drugs in Illinois compromises that fundamental right. “
State lawmakers like Senator Chris Balkema (R-Channahon) further argue that the bill is a “slippery slope” toward increasingly loosened guidelines on who can be eligible for suicide-inducing drugs, as has happened in states like Oregon. The Catholic Conference of Illinois agreed. “The Illinois General Assembly has put our state on a slippery path that jeopardizes the well-being of the poor and marginalized, especially those in the disability community and have foreseeable tragic consequences,” the group stated.
If Illinois’s SB 1950 is signed into law, the Land of Lincoln would become the 13th U.S. jurisdiction to legalize assisted suicide, all of which are Democrat-led. Other blue states such as New York have also passed legislation legalizing the practice in recent months, although Governor Kathy Hochul (D) has yet to sign it into law. Assisted suicide has also spread across Europe, where it is legal in Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, and Germany. The U.K. is also on the cusp of approving the practice, but intense controversy over the measure has delayed its enactment for the time being.
Mary Szoch, who serves as director of the Center for Human Dignity at Family Research Council, told The Washington Stand that contrary to what proponents of assisted suicide argue, the practice is the opposite of showing compassion for those who are dying.
“Americans should pray that Governor Pritzker does not sign legislation legalizing assisted suicide in Illinois,” she emphasized. “Assisted suicide is a false form of compassion — one that eliminates the sufferer instead of the suffering. It evaluates some lives as worth living and others as not. Inherent to the practice is measuring a person’s value based on what a person is capable of doing. Each of us is willed and held in existence by our loving Father. We have value because we are made in His image — not because of what we can do. God knows the number of hairs on our head and the number of days our lives will last. Assisted suicide is a rejection of God — making human beings the arbiters of who should live and who should die.”
“People who choose assisted suicide most frequently request it because of issues like feeling like a burden on others, no longer having the ability to do things that make life enjoyable, or feeling a loss of autonomy — not because of suffering,” Szoch observed. “These are struggles that people with disabilities face every day. As assisted suicide legislation passes in states, discrimination against people with disabilities will increase, as their lives will be viewed as less valuable.”
“Americans need to regain a respect for the dignity of the human person and put an end to the legalization of assisted suicide,” Szoch concluded.
LifeNews Note: Dan Hart writes for the Family Research Council. He is the senior editor of The Washington Stand.
