Illinois agrees to court order temporarily shielding Catholics from assisted suicide mandate
The federal court’s temporary restraining order bars the state from enforcing its new assisted suicide law against the Archdiocese of Chicago, two orders of Catholic religious sisters, and a Catholic pharmacist.
A group of Chicago-based Catholics have succeeded in securing a reprieve from an Illinois assisted suicide law, with a federal court barring the state from enforcing the law against the Catholic objectors.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty confirmed that a federal judge issued a Sept. 11 temporary restraining order (TRO) prohibiting the state from enforcing the End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act (EOLO) against Archbishop of Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich, the Archdiocese of Chicago, the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, the Little Sisters of the Poor, and pharmacist Luke Vander Bleek, a Catholic operating in the Chicago suburbs.
The TRO is a temporary measure to shield the First Amendment rights of the Catholic plaintiffs while the court awaits both a request for a preliminary injunction and a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in two other cases related to religious objections to Illinois abortion mandates.
Illinois state officials agreed to the terms of the TRO, which only shields the plaintiffs named in the case and “does not prevent the Illinois Department of Public Health or the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation from pursuing enforcement actions against non-parties who violate the Act,” according to district judge Franklin U. Valderrama.
The plaintiffs “serve patients according to their Catholic faith, which calls them to heal and protect human life, not end it,” the Becket Fund said in a press release.
“That means they cannot prescribe or dispense lethal drugs, direct or refer patients to obtain them, or help facilitate a patient’s suicide in any way,” the press release continued. “Yet Illinois’ End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act (EOLOA) would force them to do exactly that.”
Becket and the Chicago Catholics praised the court’s order and expressed hope that the state’s agreement to the terms indicated that Illinois officials would abide by any future court decision upholding Catholics’ First Amendment rights.
“It’s hard to imagine a more blatant attack on religious freedom than forcing Catholic nuns to help people commit suicide,” said Becket president and lead attorney in the case Mark Rienzi. “Illinois was right to agree to the court’s order. We look forward to ending this mandate for good and protecting the right of patients to spend their final days with those who will offer them compassionate, life-affirming care.”
Cardinal Cupich said that the Illinois mandate, if allowed to be enforced, would “require healthcare providers, against their conscience, to participate in assisted suicide by compelling them to inform patients of the ‘benefits’ of suicide and their ‘right’ to kill themselves, and also help them qualify for lethal drugs, or pass them along to someone willing to help them obtain those drugs.”
“These obligations violate core constitutional protections of freedom of speech and religion. The law with these provisions must be struck down permanently,” he continued. “To be clear, the Church’s objection to this statute is not an attempt to impose Catholic teaching on non-Catholics; it is an effort to stop the State from compelling Catholic health care providers to violate their conscience.”
Mother Mary Rose Heery, prioress general of the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, said that the TRO “brings real peace of mind to our Sisters, our residents, and their families” and “allows us to continue our vocation of showing Christ’s unbounded love to those who need it most — a love that endures in every circumstance and through every hardship.”
The EOLO went into effect Sept. 12 after having been signed into law by Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker in December 2025.
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