Illinois’ recent legalization of assisted suicide marks a historic but deeply divisive shift in state policy—one that many critics argue was pushed through with little regard for opposing voices.
Illinois has become the 12th U.S. state, alongside Washington, D.C., to legalize assisted suicide, despite strong objections from the state’s Catholic bishops as well as pro-life and disability rights groups. Governor J.B. Pritzker signed Senate Bill 1950 on December 12, permitting terminally ill adult residents to obtain a physician’s prescription for life-ending medication to self-administer.
The law, which will take effect in September 2026, defines a terminal illness as an incurable condition expected to cause death within six months and explicitly excludes major depressive disorder as a qualifying diagnosis. The counterarguments were ignored entirely.
On Dec. 10, the Illinois Catholic bishops sent a letter to Pritzker, urging him to veto the bill, and to instead ensure the state’s residents have “compassionate, loving care provided by trained professionals and/or loving family members” at the end of their lives.The following night, dozens of the measure’s opponents braved the damp chill to hold a vigil outside the governor’s downtown Chicago office. Doctors and advocates for persons with disabilities spoke out against the bill, pleading that Pritzker veto it.In November, Access Living, a Chicago-based disability advocacy organization, condemned the bill’s passage, warning that its clients — mostly persons of color with low income, who rely on Medicaid and other services — “will endure the brunt of this harmful legislation.”“Illinois’ bill does not offer freedom; it harms people with disabilities,” the group said in a Nov. 3 statement.
Meanwhile, New York is poised to follow suit.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday that she has reached a deal with state legislative leaders to approve a bill to give terminally ill people the legal ability to end their own lives with prescribed medication.In an op-ed in the Albany Times Union, Hochul said she supports the proposal but has made an agreement with lawmakers to include “guardrails” in the measure before she signs it into law.Hochul, a Catholic, said she came to the decision after hearing from New Yorkers in the “throes of pain and suffering,” as well as their children, while also considering opposition from “individuals of many faiths who believe that deliberately shortening one’s life violates the sanctity of life.”
As of this writing, in addition to Illinois, medically assisted suicide is legal in Oregon, Washington, Vermont, California, Colorado, Hawaiʻi, New Jersey, Maine, New Mexico, and the District of Columbia, and is permitted by court ruling in Montana.
Cumulatively, just over ten thousand Americans are known to have died using medical aid in dying (MAID) in the U.S. states where it is legal, across roughly the past 30 years.
Looking at the program a little north of Illinois and New York, the implementation of MAID seems a little more robust in Canada. Over 16,000 lives were claimed last year via this program.
Canada’s government-run euthanasia program increased its death toll again last year, taking more than 16,000 lives, and placing medically assisted suicide as the fourth leading cause of death in the country.According to an annual report published by the Canadian government, 16,499 people were killed through the Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program in 2024, increasing 6.9 percent from the previous year. Close to 75 percent of the 22,535 people who applied for the program were approved….The horrors of government-funded murder should not be understated. Canada’s program has grown every year since it began, as restrictions continue to loosen, despite reports of corrupt and coercive practices. Developed countries view Canada as a “cautionary tale” where government killing has become an expansive and accepted norm.
One example of what assisted suicide programs can morph into is found in the case of Jolene Van Alstine, a woman from Regina, Saskatchewan, with normocalcemic primary hyperparathyroidism. She has been unable to obtain the complex surgery she needs in her home province and was approved for MAID, with an assessment visit reported for January 7.
Van Alstine has repeatedly said she would prefer to have the required surgery and to live, but applied for MAID after years of untreated, debilitating symptoms, including extreme bone pain, nausea, and vomiting, and no doctors available to treat her. Conservative pundit Glenn Beck learned of the case and is trying to help her to the U.S. for care.
Beck posted on X Tuesday that he would help arrange treatment in the United States for Van Alstine. In a series of posts, he said surgeons had contacted his organization offering assistance and his team was in contact with Van Alstine and her partner.Van Alstine’s partner, Miles Sundeen, confirmed he was contacted Tuesday by Beck’s staff on X.”He’s offered to pay for at least travel and accommodation expenses, trying to get help for her in the United States,” Sundeen said in an interview with CBC on Tuesday.”For us to have it done in the States would be financially impossible otherwise.”
I have to say, not being able to provide a doable surgery during an 8-year period, then offering to help you die is not my idea of a great healthcare plan.
I can only hope our healthcare system does not devolve to this point.
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