A federal judge on September 11 temporarily blocked Illinois from enforcing the state’s physician-assisted suicide law, which permits physicians to aid terminally ill adults in dying by suicide, against Catholic entities that challenged it in court.
The judge granted a temporary restraining order to Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago, two orders of Catholic nuns, and an Illinois pharmacist in response to their lawsuit, Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm v. Prince, filed earlier in September. The Catholic entities argued the law, which took effect September 12, would require them to facilitate such deaths for their patients in violation of their faith.
In a September 11 statement, Mother Mary Rose Heery, prioress general of the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, said, “This agreement brings real peace of mind to our Sisters, our residents, and their families.” Cardinal Cupich also welcomed the decision in a statement, emphasising the Church’s aim is “to stop the State from compelling Catholic health care providers to violate their conscience.”
Specific “Catholic health care entities” under the authority of Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of Springfield, four Catholic doctors and Lutheran Care Center, a nursing home in south-central Illinois, were also previously shielded from the Illinois law in response to a separate lawsuit.
