December 12, 2025
Catholic News Agency
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Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law an assisted suicide bill that Catholic leaders have ardently opposed.
Pritzker, who met with Pope Leo XIV on Nov. 19, cited “freedom,” “choice,” and “autonomy” as his reasons for signing the bill, which allows doctors to give terminally ill patients life-ending drugs if they request them. According to the law, patients must be mentally capable and have a prognosis of six months or less to live.
Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago and other Illinois bishops had urged Pritzker to veto the bill. The Catholic Conference of Illinois, which speaks for the Catholic bishops in the state, condemned the law, calling it a “dangerous and heartbreaking path.”
Other jurisdictions with assisted suicide laws include: California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia. The Illinois law, Pritzker said in a Dec. 12 statement, “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.”
Pritzker said he was “deeply impacted” by stories of the suffering of terminally ill patients and their families who argued in favor of the bill.
“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.
Pritzker signed the measure into law on the beloved feast day for Catholics in North America of Our Lady of Guadalupe, who is known as the patroness of the pro-life movement.
Opponents of assisted suicide say that assisted suicide is not “true compassion” and constitutes “abandonment” of patients in need of care.
“This law ignores the very real failures in access to quality care that drive vulnerable people to despair,” according to the Catholic Conference of Illinois’ statement. “It does nothing to ensure patients are offered services, protected from coercion, or surrounded by loved ones when they kill themselves.”