Governor J.B. Pritzker signed the controversial “Medical Aid in Dying Act” into law Friday, legalizing doctor-assisted suicide in Illinois while ignoring the urgent pleas of religious leaders, medical professionals and conservative politicians.
The new law (SB 1950) makes Illinois the 12th state to authorize the practice allowing terminally ill, mentally capable adults to request and receive medication to end their lives.
The law, dubbed “Deb’s Law”, was pushed through the General Assembly using legislative maneuvers that circumvented transparent debate. The bill was initially attached as an amendment to unrelated legislation and passed the House by a vote of 63-42 in May, followed by a slim 30-27 vote in the Senate in October.
The bill’s signing immediately drew fiery condemnation from conservative voices.
“Pritzker’s pro-death legislation is disgusting and coerces vulnerable Illinoisans to end their own lives,” Illinois Republican Party Chair Kathy Salvi said in a statement. “This bill puts the elderly, sick, and mentally ill at risk of being manipulated by family, friends, healthcare providers and even insurance companies to kill themselves. This bill is proof that Illinois Democrats don’t care about people with illnesses and disabilities.”
State Rep. and medical doctor Bill Hauter of Morton, Illinois, strongly objected to the legislation’s impact on healthcare ethics and vulnerable citizens.
“Everything about this bill has been outrageous: from the contempt it shows for the most vulnerable in our society to the shady way in which it was passed in the middle of the night,” Hauter said in a powerfully worded statement.
“This bill is bad for Illinois. It tells the disabled, the poor, the terminally ill, those with mental health issues that they are a burden and that they have a duty to die. It is ripe for coercion and abuse by unscrupulous actors.
“Thousands of Illinois physicians represented by the Illinois State Medical Society oppose physician-assisted suicide. Physicians have the primary responsibility to preserve life, to heal and to relieve suffering.
“Our ancient oath, which has been passed down for generations, has always contained the phrase ‘First do no harm.’ Assisting a patient in killing themselves is fundamentally incompatible with this sacred oath. This bill irrevocably changes the principles, purposes and practices of medicine in Illinois.”
Dr. Carrie Mendoza, an emergency medicine physician and the running mate for Republican gubernatorial candidate Ted Dabrowski, also warned about the law’s impact on vulnerable populations.
“The very people this law will threaten most are the same people Pritzker claims to champion: minorities, women, and the vulnerable, the disabled and the disenfranchised,” Mendoza warned.
The law includes a mandate that physicians who object to assisted suicide on moral or religious grounds refer patients to providers who will participate in ending their lives.
The Catholic Conference of Illinois issued a statement asserting, “Rather than investing in real end-of-life support such as palliative and hospice care, pain management, and family-centered accompaniment, our state has chosen to normalize killing oneself.”
The Catholic Conference argues that isn’t compassion, but abandonment of patients in their time of greatest need.
In anticipation of the law, OSF Healthcare, a Catholic health provider in Illinois, has already said it won’t allow assisted suicide within its facilities.
“OSF is guided by honoring the dignity of every human person and we will not participate in or support any form of physician-assisted suicide,” the OSF statement reads.
The Pritzker administration and the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) now have until September 2026 to establish the specific protocols and regulations for the new law.
