Catholic groups sue state over new assisted-suicide law
Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich is shown in a November 2014 file photo. (Photo by Charles Rex Arbogast/The Associated Press)
The state of Illinois is being sued over a new law that would allow medically assisted suicide, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Illinois’ End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act, which Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law in December, is set to take effect Saturday. It would let doctors prescribe medication to help terminally ill patients end their lives, the report said.
The plaintiffs include Cardinal Blase Cupich, head of the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, the Little Sisters of the Poor Chicago Province and an Illinois pharmacist.
“At the very least, Illinois ought to heed federal law, which bans the use of federal healthcare funds for assisted suicide, and forbids Illinois from discriminating against those who, like the sisters, refuse to participate in assisted suicide,” the plaintiffs said in the lawsuit. “Instead, Illinois has put the sisters and other Catholics providing healthcare in the archdiocese to a stark choice: either abandon their religious beliefs regarding the sanctity of life or face significant fines and penalties.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, a proponent of the law, called the suit a “willful misreading” of the law.
“We all have a right to religious liberty and religious viewpoints. But our deeply held religious views [do] not give any of us a veto over the views and wishes of others,” an ACLU spokesman said.
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