A group of Catholic physicians and a bishop filed a lawsuit against the state of Illinois on Tuesday, challenging the state’s assisted suicide law.
The End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act, signed into law by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker in December 2025, allows terminally ill people to secure medication and end their lives. The law comes into effect on Sept. 12 this year. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, took issue with the bill’s rules for state physicians when dealing with people seeking assisted suicide.
According to the bill, the attending physician is obliged to inform the patient about potential risks and benefits of self-administering the medication that would bring about death. In case a healthcare professional is unwilling to carry out a person’s request for aid in dying, they must refer the individual to another professional who is “able and willing,” the bill said….