Latest Post | Last 10 Posts | Archives
Previous Post: Advocates sue over “black box” ICE facility in Broadview, claim detainees denied counsel, basic care
Next Post: Statehouse to Bears: Which part of the word ‘No’ do you not understand?
Posted in:
* Sponsor of Senate Bill 1950…
Senator Linda Holmes’ two-year pursuit to allow terminally ill adults in Illinois to choose to end their suffering on their own terms was passed by the Illinois State Senate Friday.
Senate Bill 1950 would allow a qualified patient with a terminal disease to request a physician to prescribe aid-in-dying medication, allowing the patient to end their own life in a peaceful manner, if and when, they choose.
“I lost both of my parents to terminal cancers, and can’t forget the helpless feeling of being unable to relieve their suffering,” said Holmes (D-Aurora). “This measure is about allowing qualified, terminally ill patients an option to consider ending their pain and distress.”
The bill would include multiple specific measures to ensure a patient is eligible for the program, and protect them from potential coercion by anyone who may attempt to take advantage of the patient. It would let adults who are 18 or older – whose terminal illness diagnosis gives them six months or less to live – to receive prescribed medicine to end their lives.
Patients would be assessed by physicians and mental health professionals to ensure they are of sound mind, and only the patient can request this aid – not a surrogate, proxy or via an advance health directive. Under Senate Bill 1950, no physician, health care provider or pharmacist would be required to participate in the law.
Senate Bill 1950 passed the Senate and heads to the governor’s desk for final approval.
* GOP Rep. Bill Hauter…
In the early hours of the morning, while most families were sleeping, the Senate passed a bill legalizing physician-assisted suicide, prioritizing this controversial measure over the need to address critical issues such as lowering taxes, fixing pensions, and providing relief for skyrocketing electric rates, according to State Representative Bill Hauter, MD, (R-Morton).
“This is just another example of a corrupt and cowardly process that advances legislation of this consequence without warning in the dead of night without any input from stakeholders that have fought so hard to protect the miracle of life. As a State Representative and physician dedicated to preserving life and alleviating suffering, I stand firmly against the legalization of physician-assisted suicide,” Hauter said. “The very foundation of medicine rests upon the principle of ‘do no harm.’ This legislation inherently violates our sacred oath and forever alters the patient-physician relationship. We should be a society that values life instead of one that celebrates death.”
Hauter noted that Canada has seen a troubling expansion of assisted suicide, with recent reports indicating that it has become increasingly accessible, leading to concerns about the potential for abuse and the erosion of the sanctity of life. In 2023 alone, Canada reported more than 10,000 medically assisted deaths, raising alarms about the moral implications and the value placed on human life. Hauter said this should serve as a warning sign for Illinois.
“As physicians, our role is to heal, to comfort, relieve suffering, and advocate for our patients,” Hauter asserted. “Allowing patients to choose death goes against everything the medical community represents. This is why the Illinois State Medical Society opposes this dangerous legislation. Our focus should be on building a healthcare system that truly supports patients facing the end of life. We are not just heading toward the cliff; we are sliding down it.”
* Proponents…
Early this morning, the Illinois Senate approved and sent to the Governor’s desk Senate Bill 1950, also known as Deb’s Law, a measure that allows mentally capable, terminally ill adults with a prognosis of six months or less to live the option of obtaining a prescription medication that they can decide to take so that they can die peacefully and end their suffering. If Governor JB Pritzker approves the measure, Illinois will join 11 other states and the District of Columbia as jurisdictions that permit medical aid in dying – the first state in the Midwest to approve the practice.
In response to the vote in the Senate, Compassion & Choices and the ACLU of Illinois, who led the effort for passage of this measure, issued the following statement. It can be attributed to Callie Riley, Regional Advocacy Director for the Compassion & Choices Action Network and Khadine Bennett, Advocacy and Intergovernmental Affairs Director at the ACLU of Illinois:
“We are grateful this morning to the thousands of people across Illinois who have participated in the effort to move Deb’s Law to Governor Pritzker’s desk. Each of these people has been moved by a common commitment to ensuring that everyone in Illinois has the ability to access all options at the end of life. We also are grateful to all the legislators – especially our sponsors, State Senator Linda Holmes and State Representative Robyn Gabel – who supported the legislation after conversations with constituents and advocates leading up to the vote. We encourage the Governor to sign the measure into law at his earliest opportunity.
“Our hearts are with the families and individuals who have courageously shared their stories in the effort to advance this legislation. Their honesty and openness will make life better for Illinoisans once the law is implemented. Finally, we are thankful today for Deb Robertson, who, while facing her own cancer journey, has given freely of her time – and her name – to move this proposal forward. We are heartened that this measure will carry her name moving forward so that future residents of the Land of Lincoln may understand her determination and concern for others. Thank you, Deb.”
* Catholic Conference of Illinois…
With the passage of legislation to legalize assisted suicide in Illinois, 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. With all the assaults on human dignity and the growing number of vulnerable people we see every day, sadly the leaders and members of the General Assembly who voted for this offer us suicide as its response.
The bill now goes to the Governor, and we ask him not only to veto this bill in totality, but also to address humanely the reasons why some view assisted suicide as their only option and to heed the impact of similar legislation on other states and nations.
Many lawmakers chose to ignore the real advances in palliative medical care as an alternative to assisted suicide. Rather than signing this bill, we ask the Governor to expand and improve on palliative care programs that offer expert assessment and management of pain and other symptoms. These programs support caregivers and help ensure patient care is coordinated with other services. And they represent a compassionate and morally acceptable alternative to assisted suicide.
Today, we face real and immediate threats to human life and dignity, many from the very institutions created to protect them. The government shut down, a growing number of private and government sector layoffs, the terrorizing and deportation of our neighbors, and the loss of food and medical assistance for the poor and vulnerable are immediate problems that need attention, not enacting assisted suicide.
Let us also consider the impact on impressionable young people of legalizing suicide in any form. According to a 2022 United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study, suicide is the second-leading cause of death for U.S. teens and young adults 10-34. It is the second-leading cause of death for those 10-14. And, according to the National Institutes of Health, suicide contagion is a real risk to these young people after exposure to suicide. Add to that the ready availability of firearms in the U.S. and this is a tragedy we do not need to compound.
It defies common sense for our state to enact a 9-8-8 suicide hotline, increase funding for suicide prevention programs and then pass a law that, based on the experience of other jurisdictions, results in more suicide.
Join us as we continue to pray for all those who are sick and at the end of life, their caregivers and for all who feel life is no long worth living and need our support.
Discuss.
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Oct 31, 25 @ 1:36 pm
Previous Post: Advocates sue over “black box” ICE facility in Broadview, claim detainees denied counsel, basic care
Next Post: Statehouse to Bears: Which part of the word ‘No’ do you not understand?
WordPress Mobile Edition available at alexking.org.
powered by WordPress.
Long overdue
Comment by leonard Friday, Oct 31, 25 @ 1:43 pm
RE: Aid in dying
Good. It’s about time this law passed. If someone is terminally ill and wants to choose how and when they leave this world then they should have that right. It’s cruel and inhumane to tell someone suffering from some debilitating disease “tough, you’ll just have to deal with it.”
And, Rep Hauter, if you truly are about alleviating suffering then you would have supported this bill instead of virtue signaling. You don’t care about your patients. If you did you would have supported this bill.
Comment by Demoralized Friday, Oct 31, 25 @ 1:45 pm
I struggle to understand how people who claim to be Christians believe a loving God or Jesus would demand us to prevent terminally ill patients be made to continue suffering. I know some religions have rewritten their teaching to align with extreme right punishment politics; and that those raised to believe what they are told to won’t question that. But why should my choices about MY body be disrespected and dismissed by anyone else but me, my family and my doctors? This is at the core of life and liberty.
Kudos to Leader Holmes and the organizations who supported this effort, and particularly the patients, their families, and the families of those who suffered without this option.
Comment by MAID proponent Friday, Oct 31, 25 @ 2:03 pm
=RE: Aid in dying=
An unnecessary and purely divisive bill. Having been bedside with 3 older terminally ill family members as they passed, the current medical law is sufficient. For each of these folks, the Doctors/hospice prescribed morphine subcutaneously as needed rather than as recommended by the drug company. Nearing the end of life, palliative care docs know that discomfort-relieving drugs are essential. Believe me, when the time came, the morphine was a blessing and shortened suffering.
Comment by Think again Friday, Oct 31, 25 @ 2:13 pm
The Catholic Conference of Illinois should not provide commentary on legalized assisted suicide. That decision should remain between the doctor, patient, and patient’s family.
Instead, the Catholic Conference should focus their efforts on identifying and removing pedophile priests lurking in parishes. Countless individuals have been harmed by pedophiles in churches and schools.
Beware the men wearing capes and cassocks.
Comment by Rudy’s teeth Friday, Oct 31, 25 @ 2:26 pm
I wonder how many people and lawmakers talking about how bad this is for teens and suicide were against Ellman’s bill mandating locking up guns in the home.
It’s crazy how on the right they can have two opposing opinions, dependent on whether or not guns are involved.
I probably wouldn’t do it, but I think someone who is dying within 6 months and has no interest in having to be drugged to unconsciousness just not to suffer should have the right to say ‘Nope’ and die on their own terms. Sorry to rant, Rich.
Comment by zer0 Friday, Oct 31, 25 @ 2:28 pm
Folks, I just deleted on commenter who wanted to “ask questions” that could’ve easily been answered by reading the post.
If you want to comment on headlines, go to Twitter.
Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Oct 31, 25 @ 2:31 pm
The practice of medical aid in dying in my opinion is a violation of the Hippocratic Oath. Also, pinning down exactly how long one has to live is not always easy to determine and diagnoses can vary from doctor to doctor. Finally, as Think Again mentioned, there are palliative treatments available to ease the suffering in one’s last days, as I witnessed with two relatives of mine who died of pancreatic cancer.
Comment by RichR Friday, Oct 31, 25 @ 2:56 pm
Does Rep. Hauter really think the people who were sleeping when this bill passed would have been following what was going on in Springfield if the bill passed at high noon?
Comment by West Side the Best Side Friday, Oct 31, 25 @ 3:00 pm
Once again, the “small government, individual liberties” conservatives are trying to control out lives. If I have a terminal disease, how I choose to die is my choice and my choice alone. Full stop.
Comment by Former Downstater Friday, Oct 31, 25 @ 3:21 pm
A vote for SB 1950 was a pro-choice vote plain and simple. Politicians and government need to stay out of the personal decisions that patients make with their doctors, hopefully still recognizing that we are a country with a separation of religion and state. Anyone who does not want to have an abortion or end their terminally ill life peacefully has the choice to do otherwise.
Comment by Cosgrove Friday, Oct 31, 25 @ 3:21 pm
- Believe me, when the time came, the morphine was a blessing and shortened suffering. -
Believe me, I’ve watched several elders in my family suffer a long time before the doc upped the morphine enough to give them rest. It’s up to the individual, not you or anyone else, so stay out of it.
Comment by Excitable Boy Friday, Oct 31, 25 @ 3:43 pm
==so stay out of it==
This. Times 10. Nobody is forcing any of you that are against this to take advantage of it. Leave those that want to do so alone. It’s not harming you in the least.
Comment by Demoralized Friday, Oct 31, 25 @ 3:46 pm
I watched my sister suffer a terrible death from pancreatic cancer and my cousin an even worse death from ALS. I’m glad this is now available to IL citizens and would utilize it if I were near the end of one of these terrible diseases.
Comment by Manchester Friday, Oct 31, 25 @ 4:25 pm