Court Shields Nearly All Illinois Catholic Health Institutions

A federal judge has temporarily barred Illinois from enforcing parts of its assisted-suicide law against an expanded group of religious health care providers, including more than 95% of Catholic health care institutions in the state, according to the Thomas More Society. The order protects hospitals, health care organizations and some individual clinicians from requirements to inform eligible terminally ill patients about assisted-suicide options or connect them with prescribers of lethal medication. The plaintiffs argue that participating conflicts with their religious beliefs and medical ethics; the state law allows qualified adults with a terminal illness expected to cause death within six months to request life-ending medication. The protections remain in place while related legal challenges proceed and are not a final ruling on the law’s constitutionality.