Court says Chicago Archdiocese, Catholic sisters won’t have to submit to state suicide law
A federal judge blocked Illinois from enforcing the assisted suicide law against the Archdiocese of Chicago and the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm and Little Sisters of the Poor. The temporary restraining order applies only to these Catholic entities; the state may still enforce the law elsewhere. The lawsuit was filed on Sept. 3, arguing that the law violates religious liberty by forcing Catholic providers to participate in assisted suicide. Additional Catholic health associations and clergy have joined a separate Springfield lawsuit, seeking broader protection for Catholic and Christian healthcare professionals.
20 days ago
A federal judge has temporarily barred Illinois from enforcing its assisted-suicide law against the Archdiocese of Chicago and two Catholic religious orders while their religious-liberty lawsuit proceeds. The ruling applies only to the plaintiffs and does not prevent Illinois from enforcing the law against others. 1
U.S. District Judge Franklin Valderrama issued the temporary restraining order on Sept. 11, shielding the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, the Little Sisters of the Poor, and Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich from enforcement of the law. 1
The Archdiocese of Chicago and the sisters filed suit on Sept. 3 through the religious-liberty firm Becket. They argue that the law violates their religious freedom by requiring Catholic health care providers to participate in or assist with patients’ efforts to end their lives. 1
The order is limited in scope: Illinois may continue enforcing the assisted-suicide law against people and organizations that are not parties to the Chicago lawsuit. 1
Archbishop Cupich said the Church’s objection was not intended to impose Catholic teaching on non-Catholics, but to prevent the state from compelling Catholic health care providers to violate their consciences. He said the law should ultimately be struck down permanently. 1
Mother Mary Rose Heery, prioress general of the Carmelite Sisters, said the order provided reassurance to the sisters, their residents, and residents’ families. She said it would allow the sisters to continue caring for people in accordance with their religious vocation. 1
Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker signed the Illinois measure in December 2025. The law allows people with terminal illnesses to obtain lethal prescriptions from physicians and take the medication themselves before dying naturally. 1
The Chicago case is one of several recent legal challenges involving Catholic institutions and health care professionals in Illinois. 1
In August, Springfield Bishop Thomas Paprocki, a Lutheran care home, and four Illinois doctors filed a separate federal lawsuit challenging the law on religious-freedom and patient-care grounds. Illinois later agreed not to enforce the law against those initial plaintiffs while the case proceeds. 1
Additional Catholic organizations and health care professionals have since joined that lawsuit. The Thomas More Society said on Sept. 11 that the new plaintiffs include the Illinois Catholic Health Association, the National Association of Catholic Nurses, three other religious health care associations, a doctor, and a nurse. 1
According to the Thomas More Society, the organizations represent 95% of Catholic health institutions in Illinois and more than 13,000 health care professionals nationwide. The organization is seeking to extend the legal protections already granted to the initial plaintiffs to the broader group of Catholic and Christian health care workers it represents. 1*
Catholic institutions claim assisted‑suicide law violates religious liberty
Catholic institutions argue that assisted-suicide laws violate religious liberty when they require Catholic hospitals, nursing homes, religious orders, or their employees to facilitate an act the Church considers intrinsically wrong.
The Church teaches that assisted suicide intentionally causes death and therefore cannot be treated as ordinary medical care. Catholic health-care institutions may not participate in it, refer patients for it, or cooperate directly in its provision.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith maintains that Catholic institutions must preserve their Catholic identity and must object conscientiously to euthanasia and assisted suicide—even where those practices are legally permitted. It grounds this objection not merely in private religious preference, but in the protection of human dignity and the common good.
Accordingly, Catholic organizations contend that government cannot condition their participation in health or social-service programs on abandoning their moral identity. The USCCB states that government should not require Catholic institutions to compromise their moral or religious convictions in order to participate in public programs.
The issue is not primarily whether a patient may obtain assisted suicide elsewhere under state law. Rather, Catholic institutions object when a law allegedly requires them to:
The institutions argue that such mandates burden both institutional religious exercise and the conscience rights of individual health-care workers. The Church also holds that religious freedom includes the ability of religious organizations to express and embody their convictions through charitable, educational, and health-care institutions, not merely in private worship.
Catholic opposition is not based on indifference to suffering. Catholic directives require compassionate care, psychological and spiritual support, pain relief, and palliative treatment for dying patients. The Church’s alternative is care that accompanies the person until natural death rather than intentionally causing death.
The legal question remains distinct from the moral one: courts must determine whether a particular statute actually compels religious exercise or merely regulates generally applicable conduct. The supplied material supports the Catholic institutions’ religious-liberty argument, but does not establish the final legal outcome of the current litigation.