The state recently began allowing doctors to help patients kill themselves by prescribing lethal doses of medication.
A coalition of religious sisters has joined Chicago’s Cardinal Blase Cupich in suing the state of Illinois to prevent enforcement of its assisted suicide law.
The law, which was signed by Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker in December 2025, allows doctors in the state to prescribe lethal doses of medication to patients in order to help them end their own lives. Among other rules, patients must have a terminal illness in order to qualify for receiving help to kill themselves.
The rule has received strong criticism from Catholic bishops in the state.
On Sept. 3, meanwhile, the religious liberty law firm Becket announced that Cardinal Cupich and two orders of religious sisters had filed a lawsuit against the state seeking to halt enforcement of the law against the Catholic plaintiffs.
The suit, filed in U.S. district court, argues that the sisters — who belong to the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm and the Little Sisters of the Poor — will be forced to either “abandon their religious beliefs regarding the sanctity of life or face significant fines and penalties” if they
