Illinois Gov. Pritzker Signs Right-To-Die Law

Illinois' heavyweight Democratic Governor, Jay Robert "JB" Pritzker, signed SB 9, the End-Of-Life Options Act, into law yesterday.  The law has a September 2026 effective date.  It allows terminally ill people above the age of 18 to get a suicide drug from their doctor.  Illinois will be the 12th U.S. State, and the first State in the Midwest, to allow assisted suicide.  Canada is now the world leader in euthanasia with their Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program which was approved in 2016, but has recently paused MAID for mental health cases:

https://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/2025/12/12/illinois-right-to-die-pritzker-signs-law

Gov. JB Pritzker signs 'right-to-die' legislation for terminally ill people to end their lives in Illinois
The new law, which takes effect next September, opens the door for people 18 or older with a terminal diagnosis to be prescribed a fatal drug.
By Mitchell Armentrout - December 12, 2025

Terminally ill people will have the option to end their own lives with a doctor’s prescription in Illinois next year, under legislation signed by Gov. JB Pritzker on Friday.

Illinois joins 11 other states that have passed so-called right-to-die legislation, which is opposed by many religious leaders and disability rights activists.

Civil liberties advocates hailed Illinois’ law that goes into effect in September 2026 and “will be thoughtfully implemented so that physicians can consult patients on making deeply personal decisions with authority, autonomy and empathy,” according to Pritzker.

“I have been deeply impacted by the stories of Illinoisans or their loved ones that have suffered from a devastating terminal illness, and I have been moved by their dedication to standing up for freedom and choice at the end of life in the midst of personal heartbreak,” Pritzker said in a statement. “Today, Illinois honors their strength and courage by enacting legislation that enables patients faced with debilitating terminal illnesses to make a decision, in consultation with a doctor, that helps them avoid unnecessary pain and suffering at the end of their lives.”

The governor signed the polarizing legislation without the fanfare of press conferences that have accompanied other bills sent to his desk by state lawmakers this fall.

The measure narrowly passed the Illinois House in May and surprised Springfield observers, including Pritzker, when it got a Senate vote in the waning hours of the veto session, squeaking through with a bare-minimum 30-27 majority Oct. 31.

It faced resistance within the supermajority Democratic caucus and staunch opposition from Republicans decrying a new “culture of death.”

“When my mother passed at home, I know she would have chosen this path to ease our pain, not her own. That’s exactly why strong safeguards matter,” House Minority Leader Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, said in a statement. “I opposed this legislation because compassion must be paired with caution.”

The legislation was championed by state Sen. Linda Holmes, D-Aurora, whose parents died after extended cancer bouts.

“I’ll never forget the helpless feeling of watching them suffer when there was nothing I could do to help them. I believe every adult patient of sound mind should have this as one more option in their end-of-life care in the event their suffering becomes unbearable,” Holmes said in a statement.

Under the law, people 18 or older will be able to request a fatal medication if they’ve been diagnosed by two physicians with an illness that will result in death within six months.

Patients will have to make a series of oral and written requests themselves — not through a guardian, surrogate, advance legal document or other proxy — with witnesses attesting.

Physicians will have to confirm the patient is “of sound mind,” and inform them of other end-of-life options such as hospice and palliative care.

If prescribed a life-ending drug, patients would administer it themselves. Health care providers aren’t required to participate.

Khadine Bennett of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois said the law “reflects our state’s ethos of compassion. Cutting through so much of the hyperbolic rhetoric of the past few months, the bottom line is that Illinois now will permit someone facing a terminal diagnosis to choose the timing of their death and end their suffering.”

Opponents at Access Living, which advocates for people with disabilities, had pushed the governor to veto legislation they warn could lead to abuse.

“Legalizing physician-assisted suicide in Illinois will place our community at the risk of the subtle but dangerous pressure to end our lives rather than get the care we need,” Access Living president Karen Tamley said in a statement last month.

Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich blasted the law as well, saying Pritzker has “put Illinois on a dangerous and heartbreaking path — one that legitimizes suicide as a valid solution for life’s challenges.

“Rather than investing in real end-of-life support such as palliative and hospice care, pain management, and family-centered accompaniment, our state has chosen to normalize killing oneself. This law ignores the very real failures in access to quality care that drive vulnerable people to despair. It does nothing to ensure patients are offered services, protected from coercion or surrounded by loved ones when they kill themselves,” Cupich said in a statement.

Pritzker previously said he brought up the subject when he met Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV last month at the Vatican, in the context of “acknowledging that there may be things that we disagree about.”