Other American Catholic leaders have done so as well, including Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich. Illinois' six Catholic dioceses asked Pritzker not to sign the bill that puts the state "on a dangerous and heartbreaking path."
Pritzker went along with the bill to allow Illinoisans to kill themselves while under medical care anyway. The law is called "Deb's Law" and was named for Deb Robinson, a woman who wanted to kill herself after a terminal illness diagnosis.
Her argument was that those who suffer with a terminal condition should be able to make their own decisions as to when their life is ended and not have to wait until the illness takes them out entirely. Of course, people already can and do end their own lives. This bill legitimizes suicide by bringing in the government as arbiter and a doctor as killer.
"We were very clear about the necessity to respect the sacredness of life from the very beginning to the very end, and unfortunately, for different reasons, he decided to sign that bill. I'm am very disappointed about that," Leo said.
"I would invite all people, especially in these Christmas days," Leo said, "to reflect upon the nature of human life, the goodness of human life." God became human like us to show us what it means really to live human life, and I hope and pray that the respect for life will once again grow in all moments of human existence, from conception to natural death.
Pritzker said he signed the bill to help those who are suffering. In this case, "help" is defined as "hastening death." New York's Governor Kathy Hochul also signed a bill to allow New Yorkers to choose death when faced with a terminal diagnosis.
California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington all allow citizens to kill themselves under a doctor's supervision. In Canada, government-assisted suicide is a leading cause of death.
