A federal judge has temporarily blocked Illinois from enforcing its assisted-dying law against Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago, two orders of Catholic women religious and an Illinois pharmacist, OSV News reported Oct. 23.
The judge issued the temporary restraining order Sept. 11 in Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm v. Prince. The state’s End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act took effect the next day. The plaintiffs argue that the law would force them to facilitate assisted deaths, which would violate their faith.
Mark Rienzi, president of Becket and lead attorney for the providers, said Illinois “was right to agree to the court’s order.” Mother Mary Rose Heery, prioress general of the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, said the agreement brings “real peace of mind” to the sisters, their residents and families.
Cardinal Cupich said the law’s provisions “violate core constitutional protections of freedom of speech and religion.” He called for them to be struck down permanently.
The order adds to protections already won in a separate lawsuit. That case shielded Catholic healthcare entities under Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, four Catholic physicians and Lutheran Care Center, a nursing home in south-central Illinois.
Gov. JB Pritzker signed the law and has said it offers “freedom and choice at the end of life.”
The Illinois ruling follows a similar one in July. A federal judge temporarily shielded four orders of women religious, including the Little Sisters of the Poor and the Carmelite Sisters, from New York’s assisted-dying law.
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