Illinois agrees to pause enforcement of assisted suicide mandate against Catholics, religious objectors
The protections will remain in place while a federal appeals court considers a separate religious conscience case raising similar legal questions.
Illinois officials have agreed not to enforce provisions of the state’s new assisted suicide law against a group of religious objectors, including Springfield Bishop Thomas John Paprocki, a Lutheran care facility, and four Catholic physicians.
The stipulated temporary restraining order was entered Aug. 21 by U.S. District Judge Franklin Valderrama in the Northern District of Illinois, and it stems from a lawsuit the religious objectors filed Aug. 11. The suit challenges provisions of the state’s End of Life Options Act, which Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed in December 2025 and is set to take effect Sept. 12.
As Zeale News previously reported, the plaintiffs argue that the law would force them to discuss the purported benefits of assisted suicide, refer patients to providers who participate in assisted suicide, and allow their employees to help patients obtain lethal drugs. Violations could expose providers to fines of up to $10,000, professional discipline, or criminal prosecution, according to an Aug. 24 Thomas More Society statement.
“Illinois’s new law forces faithful health care providers to cooperate in the state’s suicide promotion scheme, and this agreement protects our clients from this grave assault on their religious beliefs,” Peter Breen, executive vice president and head of litigation at Thomas More Society, said in the statement. “No government has the power to tell a bishop what is or isn’t moral or to require doctors to violate their oath to respect and protect human life.”
Under the temporary order, Illinois will not enforce the challenged provisions against the named plaintiffs or Catholic health care ministries under Bishop Paprocki’s authority after the law takes effect and while court proceedings continue.
The order will remain in place until the district court rules on the plaintiffs’ forthcoming request for a preliminary injunction, according to the Thomas More Society. The plaintiffs plan to submit that request after the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules in a separate Thomas More Society lawsuit challenging Illinois’ Health Care Right of Conscience Act. Although the two lawsuits involve different state laws, they raise some of the same questions about religious conscience protections, according to the law society.
Breen said the organization “will not rest until Illinois’s immoral and coercive assisted suicide mandate is struck down for good, and every doctor and health care ministry in the state is free to heal without fear of the State’s deadly agenda.”
