Illinois has become the first midwestern state to allow what it calls medically assisted suicide for the terminally ill.
"This legislation will be thoughtfully implemented so that physicians can consult patients on making deeply personal decisions with authority, autonomy, and empathy," Governor J.B. Pritzker (D-Illinois, shown above) said after signing the measure in Chicago.
David E. Smith of Illinois Family Institute said his organization is tremendously disappointed.
"We were praying and calling people to contact the governor," Smith told AFN. "We know that the disability groups in Illinois were also trying to convince the governor that they are going to be a vulnerable group, that it'll be targeted in any future expansion of this bill, yet the governor has put his finger in the air and decided that for his base this is a good bill to sign."
In Illinois, patients 18 and older with physician-confirmed mental capacity to make medical decisions may request end-of-life medication if they have an illness that could be fatal within six months, as verified by two doctors.
They must also have received information about all end-of-life care options, such as hospice or palliative care.
Additionally, both oral and written requests for the medication must come from the patient, not a surrogate or proxy.
Smith said that only God has the right to decide the beginning and end of our lives.
He added that not all Democrats joined the governor in supporting this bill.
"There are 40 Democrats in the Illinois Senate," said Smith. "They ended with 30 votes to pass this bill, and they barely got there, and it took some wheeling and dealing to flip a couple of those guys."
Eleven other states and the District of Columbia allow medically assisted suicide.
Smith said that "it is incumbent on Christians to make sure that we teach a Biblical worldview of the sanctity of human life" to our children and our grandchildren.
"We cannot take it for granted they'll understand this, and they need to be equipped while they're young," said Smith.
