Cardinal Cupich, religious sisters, pharmacist sue Illinois over physician-assisted suicide law

Chicago archbishop Cardinal Blase Cupich, two religious sister orders, and a local pharmacist sued Illinois this month over a pro-assisted suicide law that they attest would force them to violate their religious beliefs by requiring them to help terminally ill patients kill themselves, according to a Sept. 3 press release from the legal organization Becket.

The suit Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm v. Prince, filed by Becket, asks a federal court to block the End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act (EOLOA) before it takes effect Sept. 12. Along with Cardinal Cupich, the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, the Little Sisters of the Poor, and Catholic pharmacist Luke Vander Bleek are the plaintiffs. The Sisters and Bleek fulfill their ministries and work in the healthcare realm according to their Catholic beliefs, which affirms the dignity of human life from conception until natural death, according to Becket.

“I became a pharmacist because I wanted to help people heal, never to hasten their deaths,” Bleek, owner of Fitzgerald Pharmacy in Morrison, said in the release. “But now Illinois wants my pharmacy to dispense prescriptions for suicide in violation of my Catholic beliefs. The state shouldn’t force me to choose between serving my neighbors and following my conscience.” ---More...