A federal district judge temporarily exempted the Archdiocese of Chicago and two religious institutes from state assisted suicide legislation while their lawsuit against the State of Illinois is adjudicated.
Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago, the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, the Little Sisters of the Poor, and a pharmacist filed suit last week to block the implementation of the law.
In a statement issued yesterday, Cardinal Cupich said:
I welcome this decision of the court that stays the enforcement of the provisions of the Illinois End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act (EOLOA) that require healthcare providers, against their conscience, to participate in assisted suicide by compelling them to inform patients of the ‘benefits’ of suicide and their ‘right’ to kill themselves, and also help them qualify for lethal drugs, or pass them along to someone willing to help them obtain those drugs.
These obligations violate core constitutional protections of freedom of speech and religion. The law with these provisions must be struck down permanently.
To be clear, the Church’s objection to this statute is not an attempt to impose Catholic teaching on non-Catholics; it is an effort to stop the State from compelling Catholic health care providers to violate their conscience.