New Lawsuit Filed to Block Assisted Suicide in Illinois

Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, , , ,

Last week, a group of pro-life advocates filed a federal lawsuit to block Illinois’ assisted suicide law from taking effect.

On December 12, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed legislation letting healthcare providers help terminally ill patients end their lives. The law is slated to take effect next month, but a new lawsuit is asking the federal courts to block the law.

The National Catholic Reporter writes:

The Thomas More Society — on behalf of Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Lutheran Care Center in Altamont and four Illinois doctors — filed a lawsuit Aug. 11 against the state’s secretary of finance and professional regulation and the director of the Illinois Department of Public Health.

The Catholic-run public interest law firm is seeking a federal block on the “End of Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act” before it takes effect Sept. 12. The lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division states the law violates religious and free speech rights of the First and 14th amendments.

In July, a coalition of disability-rights groups also sued against the so-called Illinois End of Life Options Act, alleging the law discriminates against disabled patients, undermines due process, and weakens longstanding suicide-prevention protections.

Experience has shown again and again that assisted-suicide laws don’t help people who are sick and dying.

Oregon first allowed physician-assisted suicide in 1998, and official state reports have shown for years that the reasons people give most often for wanting to end their lives are loss of autonomy, decreasing ability to participate in activities that make life enjoyable, and loss of dignity.

Most patients do not express concerns about pain.

In Oregon, terminally ill patients routinely receive lethal prescriptions without being referred for psychological or psychiatric evaluation.

Last year, less than 1% of patients approved for physician-assisted suicide in Oregon were referred for a psychiatric evaluation. That’s a serious problem.

Many of these patients are lonely and feel like they are losing control over their lives because of their illness. They need counseling and support — not a prescription for deadly drugs.

A physician in Quebec recently made headlines for actually suggesting the Canadian Medical Aid in Dying program be broadened to include babies. Others have lobbied for Canada to expand assisted suicide to include people suffering solely from mental health conditions like anxiety or depression.

In parts of the U.S. where physician-assisted suicide is legal, insurance companies have refused to pay for patients’ medical care, but have offered to cover assisted-suicide drugs.

Peer-reviewed research from the U.S. has found people with eating disorders have been wrongly approved for assisted suicide — even in states where assisted suicide is supposed to be limited to patients with terminal illnesses.

And we have heard stories about patients in Europe and Canada being denied care or actively euthanized thanks to bad government policies.

That’s why Family Council has worked hard to block assisted suicide legislation in Arkansas.

In 2019 and 2021, Arkansas lawmakers wisely rejected very bad end-of-life laws that were flawed and fundamentally disrespected the right to life. Family Council worked closely with our friends in the legislature to stop these proposals.

Being pro-life means believing innocent human life is sacred from conception until natural death. Just like abortion, euthanasia and assisted-suicide are murder, and they violate the sanctity of human life.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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In Louisiana, Ten Commandments Go Back to School

Religious Freedom, ,

The Ten Commandments are going back to school in Louisiana this year.

In 2024, Louisiana passed a law allowing Ten Commandments displays in public school classrooms, but the measure drew immediate legal challenges from groups like the ACLU. However, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the legal challenge was “premature” because the displays had not actually been put up in schools yet. The judges noted that deciding whether the displays are constitutional or not would force the court “to hypothesize an open-ended range of possible classroom displays,” the court said. “[That] is not judging; it is guessing.”

KSLA reports some Louisiana schools began displaying the Ten Commandments during the past school year while others plan to begin displaying them this year.

In April, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that a Texas law placing the Ten Commandments in school classrooms did not violate the Constitution. The court noted that “no child is required to recite the Commandments, believe them, or affirm their divine origin.”

The legal battles over the Ten Commandments in Texas and Louisiana directly relate to a similar legal battle in Arkansas.

Last year, lawmakers passed Act 573 of 2025 by Sen. Jim Dotson (R — Bentonville) and Rep. Alyssa Brown (R — Heber Springs) requiring privately-funded copies of the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools and other public buildings in Arkansas. The measure received strong support from the Arkansas Legislature.

However, lawyers from the ACLU and a group of atheist organizations sued to block the law, and the federal judge presiding over the case issued decisions claiming the Ten Commandments posters would pressure children “to observe, meditate on, venerate, and follow the State’s favored religious text, and to suppress expression of their own religious beliefs and backgrounds at school.”

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin has asked the 8th Circuit to let reverse the lower court decision and let Arkansas follow Act 573.

Nothing in Act 573 “pressures” students. In 2017, Arkansas passed the National Motto Display Act allowing the national motto — “In God We Trust” — to be displayed in Arkansas’ classrooms along with the U.S. flag and the Arkansas flag. Act 573 amended the National Motto Display Act to add the Ten Commandments to the list of historical items displayed in school.

Over the years, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that states are free to honor and recognize documents or symbols that are important to our nation’s history — like the Ten Commandments or the national motto. Courts have also ruled that public school students are free to study religious texts like the Bible academically.

During her testimony for Act 573 last year, Rep. Alyssa Brown noted that the U.S. Supreme Court now uses a “longstanding history and tradition test” to decide if it is constitutional to display something like a copy of the Ten Commandments. Rep. Brown said, “The Ten Commandments without a doubt will pass this longstanding history and tradition test.”

We believe our federal courts will agree and uphold Act 573 as constitutional.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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