Court Stops Illinois From Penalizing Catholic Hospitals That Refuse Assisted Suicide
State | Steven Ertelt | Oct 9, 2026 | 10:28AM | Springfield, Illinois
A federal court has stopped Illinois from penalizing Catholic hospitals and religious health workers who refuse to take part in the state’s assisted-suicide law, including a requirement that they tell terminally ill patients how to obtain lethal medication.
U.S. District Judge Franklin U. Valderrama, in an Oct. 5 temporary restraining order, barred the Department of Financial Professional Regulation and the Department of Public Health from enforcing the law against the plaintiffs. The order blocks enforcement until an appeals court rules on two related cases, National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Treto and Schroeder v. Treto.
The Thomas More Society said Thursday that an expanded court order now includes “nearly every Catholic health care institution in Illinois.”
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The protected parties include the Catholic Medical Association, the Catholic Psychotherapy Association and numerous Catholic health care affiliates in the Diocese of Springfield.
Earlier this year, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ruled for Catholic plaintiffs including Springfield Bishop Thomas Paprocki and Chicago Archbishop Cardinal Blase Cupich, barring the state from requiring them to participate in the suicide regime. Groups of religious sisters were also covered. The protection is temporary and lasts only while the lawsuit continues.
Gov. JB Pritzker signed the Medical Aid in Dying bill on Dec. 12, 2025. It took effect Sept. 12.
Adult patients must have a terminal illness expected to cause death within six months, certified by two physicians; be informed of all health care options; have the mental capacity to decide; and make written and oral requests, among other requirements. However, those limits in other states and nations are routinely flouted and later expanded.
Narrow opt-outs mean Catholic providers were not obligated to actively facilitate the specific act of suicide. The law still required them to participate in other ways, including touting the alleged benefits of taking one’s own life.
Peter Breen, litigation head at the Thomas More Society, which represents Paprocki and others, said the firm would “keep fighting until that protection is permanent.”
“Catholic and Christian health care providers, from hospitals and nursing homes to physicians, nurses, and therapists, strive to heal, not harm, and for generations, have cared for the sick and dying in keeping with their faith,” Breen said. He said the state has “no right or authority” to coerce them into helping patients kill themselves.
