{"id":33965,"date":"2025-04-23T15:20:53","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T15:20:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/?p=33965"},"modified":"2025-04-23T15:20:54","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T15:20:54","slug":"illinoiss-assisted-suicide-bill-would-turn-medicine-into-a-culture-of-death-representative-warns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/illinoiss-assisted-suicide-bill-would-turn-medicine-into-a-culture-of-death-representative-warns\/","title":{"rendered":"Illinois’s Assisted Suicide Bill Would Turn Medicine into a ‘Culture of Death,’ Representative Warns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By: Sarah Holliday, originally published April 20, 2025, The Washington Stand<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten U.S. states have legalized assisted suicide. Now, Americans are watching anxiously to see if Illinois will become the 11th.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senate Bill 9<\/a>, also known as the End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act, permits doctors to prescribe suicide drugs \u2014 whether face-to-face or through the mail \u2014 to adults with terminal illness who have been given six months to live. It was introduced on January 13, 2025, and last week, it officially passed out of committee, meaning the legislation could be voted on any time in the next few weeks before the end of the current legislative session. Family Research Council\u2019s Mary Szoch, who serves as the director of the Center for Human Dignity, mapped out \u201cthe tragedy of Illinois\u2019s assisted suicide bill<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, she argued, doctors are meant to promote life and well-being and \u201care notoriously bad at predicting when a person will die.\u201d But in addition to this, Szoch explained how SB 9 does not require a \u201cmental health evaluation,\u201d nor does it contain safeguards to prevent \u201ca person from being coerced by numerous other individuals in their life.\u201d And perhaps most concerning of all, Szoch emphasized, is that \u201cpassing SB 9 will allow insurance companies to choose to cover the cheapest option \u2014 lethal drugs \u2014 instead of actual health care that sustains life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday\u2019s edition of \u201cWashington Watch<\/a>.\u201d FRC President Tony Perkins dug deeper into the flaws and dangers of this legislation with state Rep. Bill Hauter, a board-certified physician practicing at Saint Francis Medical Center in Illinois. \u201cI think the Hippocratic Oath makes very clear what you\u2019re supposed to do as a physician,\u201d said Perkins. \u201cThis [bill] would turn that on its head.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hauter agreed. \u201cI call it liberal progressive FOMO. They see in other states and Canada more liberal policies, and they get a fear of missing out that Illinois doesn\u2019t have the most liberal policies.\u201d As such, he said, \u201cthey have glommed on to this physician-assisted suicide. And \u2026 I call it physician-assisted suicide. I don\u2019t call it medical-aid-in-dying\u201d as the bill\u2019s text does. \u201cThey want to control the language,\u201d Hauter stated, so now, \u201cWe have \u201cmedical-aid in-dying. \u2026 [But] in medicine, it\u2019s called hospice care. It\u2019s called palliative care\u201d \u2014 practices\u00a0defined<\/a>\u00a0by the National Institute of Health as \u201ca service for people with serious illnesses who choose not to get (or continue) treatment to cure or control their illness\u201d with the aim of providing \u201ccomfort and peace to help improve quality of life for the person nearing death.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo,\u201d Hauter stated, \u201cwe have that already.\u201d But \u201cphysician assisted suicide \u2026 goes against our very oath, our sacred oath, that we took as healers, as physicians, who would be advocates for our patients, try to comfort them, try to control their pain.\u201d Legislation that pushes for assisted suicide turns medicine into \u201ca culture of death. We see this all over \u2026 our state policies, whether it be abortion policies [or assisted suicide,] there\u2019s just a culture of death.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Concerning the bill\u2019s progression, Hauter believes it will be challenging to pass. \u201c[T]here\u2019s bipartisan opposition to this,\u201d he noted, \u201cand there\u2019s strong opposition from the Christian communities. \u2026 [E]ven the disability community is really strongly against it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perkins took a moment to look at the bigger picture. \u201cYou\u2019ve had some really \u2026 bad bills in Illinois this year,\u201d he told Hauter. \u201cWhat\u2019s going on up there?\u201d The doctor called the Republicans\u2019 opposition \u201cStupid Idea Factory.\u201d He shook his head. \u201cIt\u2019s just incredible what they will present. I mean, you don\u2019t see even half of what is brought up\u201d since \u201cquickly, it dies because it\u2019s so outrageous.\u201d Ultimately, \u201cwe have a huge population and a very, very liberal, progressive city.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Hauter, it\u2019s these liberal policies that are hurting cities throughout the state. \u201cIn the city of Chicago,\u201d he explained, \u201cthe crime, the schools that are failing \u2026 the high taxes\u201d are all examples, and \u201cthey want to take this total destruction of a city \u2026 statewide.\u201d And yet, he emphasized, while \u201cwe\u2019re in the super minority in Illinois as Republicans, as conservatives \u2026 we are not a super minority in the state of Illinois. We\u2019ve [only] been put into a super minority status by unfair maps and media and money and the machine of politics of Chicago.\u201d But as Perkins pointed out, \u201c[W]e have a responsibility to stand up against\u201d these liberal agendas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hauter agreed, offering a stark warning about the dangers of physician-assisted suicide, which painted a chilling picture of its consequences if left unchallenged. For Hauter, this calls for a reevaluation of such policies to protect the sanctity of life and the patient-physician bond. As he cautioned, \u201cI call it the slippery cliff because it\u2019s not a slope.\u201d He emphasized how rapidly the practice expands, citing places like Canada, Oregon, and Europe, where \u201cit quickly gets out of control\u201d and, at least in Canada, has become a leading cause of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hauter\u2019s concerns extend to the erosion of trust, in which he noted that assisted suicide laws \u201cwill change [a patient\u2019s] relationship with their physician\u201d as well as with insurance providers, who may see death as \u201cthe cheapest care.\u201d Ultimately, Hauter\u2019s cautionary words were a call for policymakers to reject such measures, ensuring that health care remains a beacon of hope and healing, rather than a pathway to expedited endings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Sarah Holliday, originally published April 20, 2025, The Washington Stand Ten U.S. states have legalized assisted suicide. Now, Americans are watching anxiously to see if Illinois will become the 11th. Senate Bill 9, also known as the End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act, permits doctors to prescribe suicide drugs \u2014 whether face-to-face or…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33966,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nIllinois's Assisted Suicide Bill Would Turn Medicine into a 'Culture of Death,' Representative Warns - Cincinnati Right to Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/illinoiss-assisted-suicide-bill-would-turn-medicine-into-a-culture-of-death-representative-warns\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Illinois's Assisted Suicide Bill Would Turn Medicine into a 'Culture of Death,' Representative Warns - Cincinnati Right to Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By: Sarah Holliday, originally published April 20, 2025, The Washington Stand Ten U.S. states have legalized assisted suicide. 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