Catholic firm warns of lawsuit over Illinois assisted suicide bill, citing religious freedom violations for doctors and hospitals.
Newsroom (06/11/2025, Gaudium Press ) The Thomas More Society, a prominent Catholic law firm, announced it will sue Illinois if Gov. J.B. Pritzker signs a controversial bill legalizing assisted suicide, arguing it infringes on healthcare providers’ religious liberties.
In a statement to Aleteia, Peter Breen, the society’s executive vice president and head of litigation, emphasized that “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.” He warned the legislation would compel Christian clinics and hospitals to refer patients for assisted suicide and prohibit them from preventing staff from promoting or prescribing lethal drugs.
The bill, SB 1950, passed the Illinois Senate in the early hours of October 31—Halloween morning—after being introduced under the guise of food safety regulations. It now awaits Pritzker’s decision. If enacted, terminally ill patients with less than six months to live could self-administer prescribed medication after two verbal requests and one written.
Critics, including the Thomas More Society, highlight mandatory referrals for objecting physicians and requirements for religiously affiliated facilities to employ prescribers, even if procedures occur off-site. Breen called it a “tragic betrayal” pressuring the elderly and disabled to view themselves as burdens, insisting “every human being is made in God’s image, with immeasurable worth and dignity.”
The Illinois Catholic Conference, representing the state’s bishops, echoed these concerns, predicting “foreseeable tragic consequences” and potential suicide contagion among non-terminally ill youth, per National Institutes of Health data. They urged Pritzker to veto the bill and bolster palliative care as a “compassionate and morally acceptable alternative.”
Moral theologian Dr. Charlie Camosy of The Catholic University of America condemned the legislative tactics as “evil,” decrying the late-night passage via an unrelated bill. The bishops also noted irony in funding suicide prevention hotlines while advancing such laws.
Should Pritzker sign, Illinois would join 11 other states permitting assisted suicide. The Thomas More Society vowed to “stand on the side of life” and implored the governor to halt what it calls “irreversible harm.”
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Aeletia
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