With the primary elections now behind us, our attention once again is focused on the Illinois General Assembly and a slew of pending bills that are decidedly anti-family. At the top of our list is SB 3499, the so-called “End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act.” This attempt to legalize assisted suicide is euphemistically referred to as “Death with Dignity.” But don’t be deceived by the spin.

Illinois cannot hope to advance its reputation for excellence in healthcare by legalizing assisted suicide for terminally ill patients. It would call into doubt any claim we have to providing patients with the highest quality of care. Instead of perseverance, love and care, we’d be sending the message of indifference, impatience, and weakness.

Moreover, have we forgotten the very reason healthcare exists? To do no harm in the assistance of individuals seeking medical care or the relief of pain.

The consequences of legalized assisted suicide are well-recorded. The BBC reports that since its legalization in 2016 until 2021, assisted suicide grew exponentially, from just over 1000 people seeking assisted suicide in the first year to 10,064 people seeking it in 2021. Is that what we want in the Land of Lincoln? Is this what the sponsors of this bill want for the people of Illinois?

Dr. Madeline Li, a physician who has “overseen” assisted suicide for “hundreds” of people in Canada since its legalization expressed her concern to the BBC:

“Making death too ready a solution disadvantages the most vulnerable people, and actually lets society off the hook,” Dr Li said. “I don’t think death should be society’s solution for its own failures.”

Dr. Li makes a point worth noting– policy proposals such as SB 3499 shape cultural thinking on which patients are suited to live versus which patients are better off being eliminated from society. Healthcare is costly, and when healthcare professionals and insurance companies must make the judgment call on costly treatments vs. a prescription of assisted suicide, which do you think will win out?

From there, it is not hard to foresee how assisted suicide for the terminally ill can expand to include people who struggle with depression, disabilities, mental illness and dementia. We do not have to imagine the “slippery slope” — we live in Illinois and have had a front seat to realize that wickedness has no boundaries. I have to wonder if the people of the Netherlands could have imagined the expansion of euthanasia for terminally ill children.

Dr. John Koehler, a former IFI board member and pro-life activist from the Rockford area points out:

As a physician, I would never participate in assisted suicide as, in my opinion, there is always a better option than ending one’s life. Furthermore, while intractable pain from terminal cancer always seems to be the starting point of this discussion, we have already seen that move quickly to “mental illness” such as anxiety and depression, both very treatable.

Lastly, what begins as a right often becomes an obligation encouraged by the state who is often the payor for the medical care the patient needs. This is an unacceptable conflict of interest in my opinion.

Finally, as Christians we believe Scripture which teaches us that all things work together for good for those who love God. We also realize that the biggest challenges we face in this lifetime are spiritual in nature. So whatever terminal illness we or a love one may have to deal with, we must understand that God is at work in us and in the lives around us. Our trust is the Lord, He is our fortress and strength; and our eyes must be fixed on Jesus. (Proverbs 3:5-6; Psalm 46:1; Hebrews 12:2)

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send a message to your state senator now. Ask him/her to vigorously oppose SB 3499. Below are some points that should be made to our lawmakers as they wrestle with this issue. Feel free to pick and choose whichever point(s) you find most helpful:

• Illinois is a state that has long prided itself on offering top quality healthcare.

• Public policy should seek to improve healthcare, not hasten death.

• Allowing medical professionals to prescribe lethal drugs damages the patient-provider relationship.

• Assisted suicide targets people who most deserve our assistance and compassion by treating their lives as undignified: those in pain, with disabilities, the mentally ill, the elderly, persons of color, and low-income individuals.

• Experience with assisted suicide in places where it is legal shows it to be risky, lacking in safeguards, and promoting suicide.

• Society has a longstanding policy of supporting suicide prevention such as through the efforts of many public and private suicide prevention programs, the benefits of which could be denied under a public policy of assisted suicide.

• Palliative care is a proven way to relieve pain, provide comfort, and offer comprehensive and individualized treatment that encompasses all aspects of care—physical, emotional, practical and spiritual.

Physician-assisted suicide is now legal in Oregon, Washington, Vermont, Maine, Hawaii, California, Colorado, New Jersey, or the District of Columbia.