Illinois House Hearing on Assisted Suicide

A subject matter hearing on the controversial physician-assisted suicide bill was held in the House Executive Committee on Friday, May 16, 2025.

The so-called “Illinois End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act” (SB 9 and HB 1328) would allow terminally ill patients who meet certain requirements to request medication to take their life.

Opposition to the bill includes disability advocacy groups like Access Living, which argue that assisted suicide legislation can and will harm people with disabilities. They claim that assisted suicide will enable further healthcare discrimination against disabled people and other minorities.

Illinois Family Institute, the Catholic Conference of Illinois, the Illinois State Medical Society, and the Illinois Right to Life are working in opposition to this legislation.

Additionally, the American Medical Association (AMA), American Psychiatric Association, and dozens of other medical groups oppose assisted suicide. The AMA states that “Physician-assisted suicide is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer”