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Catholic Archdiocese, Sisters Win Temporary Reprieve Against Illinois Assisted Suicide Law
Confirmed
In Short: A federal judge has blocked Illinois from enforcing its assisted suicide law against the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago and a group of Catholic sisters.
U.S. District Judge Franklin Valderrama issued an order on September 11, 2025, preventing the state from enforcing its new assisted suicide law against the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm and the Little Sisters of the Poor who had brought the lawsuit. The order applies only to these specific plaintiffs, allowing the state to enforce the law elsewhere.
The plaintiffs, including Cardinal Blase Cupich, head of the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, and the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, argue that the law violates their religious beliefs regarding the sanctity of life. "At the very least, Illinois ought to heed federal law, which bans the use of federal healthcare funds for assisted suicide, and forbids Illinois from discriminating against those who, like the sisters, refuse to participate in assisted suicide," the plaintiffs said in the lawsuit.
The Archdiocese of Chicago and a group of Catholic religious sisters won a temporary reprieve against Illinois’s assisted suicide law this week, with a federal judge ordering the state not to enforce the law against the Catholic objectors while a federal lawsuit continues. The Catholic objectors will be shielded from the law while the legal battle unfolds.
What's confirmed
- U.S. District Judge Franklin Valderrama issued an order on September 11, 2025, preventing the state from enforcing its new assisted suicide law against the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm and the Little Sisters of the Poor who had brought the lawsuit. The order applies only to these specific plaintiffs, allowing the state to enforce the law elsewhere.
- The plaintiffs, including Cardinal Blase Cupich, head of the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, and the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, argue that the law violates their religious beliefs regarding the sanctity of life. "At the very least, Illinois ought to heed federal law, which bans the use of federal healthcare funds for assisted suicide, and forbids Illinois from discriminating against those who, like the sisters, refuse to participate in assisted suicide," the plaintiffs said in the lawsuit.
- The Archdiocese of Chicago and a group of Catholic religious sisters won a temporary reprieve against Illinois’s assisted suicide law this week, with a federal judge ordering the state not to enforce the law against the Catholic objectors while a federal lawsuit continues. The Catholic objectors will be shielded from the law while the legal battle unfolds.
What's still developing
- “Instead, Illinois has put the sisters and other Catholics providing healthcare in the archdiocese to a stark choice: either abandon their religious beliefs regarding the sanctity of life or face significant fines and penalties.” The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, a proponent of the law, called the suit a “willful misreading” of the law.
- “To be clear, the Church’s objection to this statute is not an attempt to impose Catholic teaching on non-Catholics,” the archbishop said.
- Illinois has become a battleground in recent weeks over its suicide law, which Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker signed in December 2025.
- In the meantime, multiple additional Catholic objectors have joined the Springfield Diocese’s lawsuit against the suicide policy.
- The Thomas More Society announced on Sept. 11 that five religious health care associations had joined Paprocki’s suit, including the Illinois Catholic Health Association and the National Association of Catholic Nurses.
- Peter Breen, the head of litigation at the legal group, said attorneys were seeking to extend the protection secured by the initial plaintiffs to the “thousands of Catholic and Christian health care professionals” represented in the new filing.
- "The First Amendment protects the rights of Catholic and Christian doctors, hospitals, and health care ministries to reject assisted suicide and heal and care for the ill and infirm in accord with their consciences,” Breen said.
- Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich is also a plaintiff in the suit.