Certain religious hospitals will not have to comply with the State of Illinois’ new assisted suicide law after a federal court issued an order on Friday, August 21.
“Illinois’s new law forces faithful health care providers to cooperate in the state’s suicide promotion scheme, and this agreement protects our clients from this grave assault on their religious beliefs,” said Peter Breen, executive vice president and head of litigation at the Thomas More Society, in a Monday, August 24 press release. The Thomas More Society is a Catholic law firm based in Illinois.
He continued: “No government has the power to tell a bishop what is or isn’t moral or to require doctors to violate their oath to respect and protect human life. This is a critical first victory for these faithful doctors, for Bishop Paprocki’s Catholic hospitals, and for the Lutheran Care Center.”
The Thomas More Society is representing Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, the Catholic hospitals in the diocese, the Lutheran Care Center and four doctors from Illinois who object to the “End of Life Options Act”.
The suit was filed on Tuesday, August 11, just over one month before the law is due to come into force on September 12. The plaintiffs claim that the law violates their consciences and forces them to collaborate with assisted suicide even if not directly performing the procedures.
Breen called the law “immoral and coercive” and said he would not rest until it is “struck down for good and every doctor and health care ministry in the state is free to heal without fear of the State’s deadly agenda”.
While the law does not require religious healthcare institutions to provide lethal medications themselves, it does require them to allow their employees to promote assisted suicide or assist with off-site assisted suicides. Under the law, these facilities cannot discipline or fire employees who are promoting or assisting with patient suicide, even if they are acting in violation of their employer’s guidelines, mission or identity.
Further, the law declares that “medical aid in dying” is not “suicide or assisted suicide”, and medical professionals who are found to have promoted “misinformation to obstruct access” to assisted suicide procedures are subject to fines, a licence revocation or criminal charges.
With the new order, Catholic hospitals and other healthcare providers in the Diocese of Springfield, as well as the other groups in the lawsuit, will be permitted to go about business as usual even after the law comes into force.
“This means I can go back to focusing on caring for my patients instead of wondering whether staying true to who I am is going to cost me my career,” said Dr Mary Keen Kirchoff, one of the plaintiffs, in a statement released by the Thomas More Society.
She continued: “For months I’ve faced the real possibility that I could lose my licence, be fined, or even face criminal charges simply for refusing to promote or refer patients towards death. I’m relieved the State agreed to pause enforcement while the courts weigh in, and I’m grateful I can keep practising medicine according to my integrity and my faith without that threat hanging over me – for now.”
