Chicago | A federal judge has temporarily blocked Illinois from enforcing parts of its physician-assisted suicide law against Little Sisters of the Poor, Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, and others who sued over the law. U.S. District Judge Franklin Valderrama granted the temporary restraining order Sept. 11, one day before the law took effect.
The lawsuit, filed by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, challenges the End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act, also known as Deb’s Law. Additional plaintiffs include the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm and a Catholic pharmacist.
In a statement Cupich expressed his thankfulness for the decision. “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 that require health care 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,” Cupich stated.
“These obligations violate core constitutional protections of freedom of speech and religion,” he continued. “The law with these provisions must be struck down permanently.”
The order applies to the plaintiffs and certain Catholic health care entities under his authority. It does not block the law statewide, and separate legal challenges remain pending.
On Sept. 16, the Becket Fund filed a second lawsuit against the law, this time representing four Muslim doctors who raise similar religious liberty objections.
A group of disability rights advocates led by Chicago resident Ebony Payne also sued over the law, arguing it lacks adequate safeguards for people with disabilities. U.S. District Judge John Tharp denied their request for immediate relief Sept. 10.
In August, a federal court granted a temporary restraining order in a lawsuit filed by the Thomas More Society on behalf of Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield, Lutheran Care Center in Altamont, and four Catholic physicians.
Supporters of the law claim it gives terminally ill patients autonomy and control at the end of life. Opponents, including many religious and disability rights advocates, say it raises conscience, religious liberty and patient-protection concerns.
The law says physicians must list the cause of death as the underlying terminal illness, not suicide, on death certificates.
To qualify under the law, patients must be Illinois residents at least 18 years old, mentally capable of making their own medical decisions and diagnosed by two physicians with a terminal illness expected to result in death within six months. They also must make oral and written requests. Patients would self-administer the prescribed medication.
Illinois is among 13 states and the District of Columbia that have legalized physician-assisted suicide.
Gov. JB Pritzker signed the bill into law Dec. 12, 2025.