(The Center Square) – As the spring legislative session winds down in Illinois, sponsors of assisted suicide legislation are trying get passage by including the measure with a food prep bill.
State Rep. Robyn Gabel, D-Evanston, attached the stalled assisted suicide bill’s language to a food preparation safety bill as an amendment.
“Medical aid in dying is a trusted and time-tested medical practice that is part of the full spectrum of end of life care options,” Gabel said during Wednesday’s House Executive Committee hearing.
Known as the “End of Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act,” the House amendment to Senate Bill 1950 would allow a person considered terminally ill to receive and self-administer lethal drugs after a physician determined they had less than six months to live.
State Rep. Bill Hauter, R-Morton, who is a practicing physician, takes issue with the fact that this important legislation is tucked inside a food prep sanitation bill.
“I have to object to the process that we are tackling today,” said Hauter. “When you have a process of fundamentally changing the practice of medicine, and we’re putting it inside a shell bill.”
The Catholic Conference of Illinois, staunch opponents of the measure, said Gabel is quietly trying to push the bill through the legislature in a last ditch effort to get assisted suicide legalized in Illinois.
Oregon was the first state to legalize medical aid in dying through a ballot initiative in 1994. Since then, 10 other states and the District of Columbia have authorized the practice.
Hauter remains opposed to the legislation.
“I’m definitely not speaking for the whole house of medicine, but I do think I can confidently speak for a significant majority of the house of medicine in that this topic really violates and is incompatible with our oath,” said Hauter.
The measure is headed to the House floor for consideration. The spring session is scheduled to end Saturday.
