Help Illinoisans Fight Back Against Assisted Suicide

On November 1, around 3:00 a.m., the Illinois legislature passed SB 1950—an assisted suicide bill disguised as a food safety amendment. For the disability community, this was no treat.

Despite united opposition from thousands of disabled advocates and allies, lawmakers ignored us. Nearly 2,700 people filed witness slips opposing SB 1950, compared to just 560 in support. The bill now heads to Governor Pritzker’s desk, and if he vetos it, our community can survive. 

SB 1950—also called the “End of Life Options Act”—poses grave risks to disabled, chronically ill, and low-income people. Experience from other states and countries shows that so-called “Medical Aid in Dying” laws often pressure vulnerable patients into death instead of providing real care. Insurance companies have already denied life-saving treatments while offering to cover assisted suicide instead. That’s not choice—it’s coercion.

Why this bill is dangerous:

• Illinois’ proposal has no oversight or audit system. It relies on self-reporting by providers.
• Doctors misdiagnose “terminal” conditions frequently—studies show they’re wrong up to 80% of the time.
• In Oregon, which allows assisted suicide, only .8% of patients were referred for psychiatric evaluations before receiving lethal drugs in 2024. SB 1950 has even fewer protections and no provision for a psychiatric examination. 
• In Canada, assisted suicide expanded from terminal illness to include disability, mental illness, housing instability, chronic pain, and even poverty.
• The American Medical Association opposes assisted suicide as “incompatible with the physician’s role as healer.”
• In Colorado and California, patients and disability rights organizations have recently sued because of the ways these laws have been abused to harm everyone, not just people with terminal illnesses. 

Disabled people are already denied equal access to care, housing, and income support. Adding assisted suicide to this broken system invites further harm. We need real options—palliative care, pain management, and community supports—not pressure to die. See our blog here for references & oppose SB 1950 now.

What to do now: We need your help! Take Action to Save Lives TODAY!