The Illinois State Senate, just passed an assisted suicide bill, dressed as a food preparation bill, to make it easier for disabled people to die, not to live. In this worst possible national moment, Illinois proponents decided in the interest of vulnerable Illinoisans that now was the time to sneak an assisted suicide bill amendment inside of all things…a food bill.
In May, the Illinois House appears to have rewritten the entirety of an unrelated bill into an assisted suicide bill without ceremony. However, At 2:00 AM today, Halloween, the Illinois State Senate took up a so-called “food prep sanitation bill” that was really just a “costumed” assisted suicide bill that had stalled on its own steam earlier this year before being hidden as a House Amendment in a bill moving in the House, again avoiding discussion or debate on such a controversial, deadly bill.
So as 2026 portends cuts to SNAP and Medicaid; and the recent “reveal” of a “streamlined” HHS that many disabled fear will spell cuts to vital disability supports, services, and research, Illinois legislators were convinced it would be in the best interests of vulnerable Illinoisans to sneak an assisted suicide bill through for a vote on a food prep sanitation bill, not during the daylight hours, but in the dead of night.
If it wasn’t clear before, it should be clear by now: Proponents don’t want these bills to see the open, democratic light of day. Again, and over again, since 1997, over 400 assisted suicide bills (and expansion bills) have either been defeated or withdrawn, because the evidence is overwhelming that assisted suicide bills are dangerous and discriminatory. They are opposed by every national disability rights organization with a position on assisted suicide – and not one supports it.
This morning at 5:35AM, Barbara Lyons, Special Projects Coordinator of the Patients Rights Action Fund (PRAF), alerted that SB 1950, an amendment to the Sanitary Food Preparation Act, in the 104th General Assembly passed by one vote (with two not voting).
A brief rundown of The Sanitary Food Preparation Act amendments – in order – included:
- Senate Floor Amendment 1: Specifying additional requirements that must be complied with by meal kit and ready-to-eat meal distribution facilities.
- Senate Floor Amendment 2: Provisions for local health departments to assess fees for inspections it conducts at meal kit and ready-to-eat meal distribution facilities…with certain requirements.
- HOUSE FLOOR AMENDMENT 1: Adds reference to: NEW ACT:
Replaces everything after the enacting clause. Creates the End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act. Provides that the Act may be referred to as Deb’s Law.
Clearly – if this is how they advocate for bills to be passed – what proponents mean by autonomy and what we mean by autonomy are diametrically opposed. That is, for autonomy to be authentic, all information associated with a choice must be transparent, reliable, and obvious. We go a step further. We believe that matters of healthcare policy should be transparent and verifiable in process and accessible to all without the need for disguise or surprise hearings.
Those are not the markers of good faith healthcare policymaking that sufficiently inform the public. Those are the markers of a bill that needs to hide to creep into passage precisely because overwhelmingly compelling arguments supported by transparent and verifiable evidence, in the light of day and under necessary scrutiny, rightly reject it over and over and over again.
We thank the diligent work of advocates in Illinois’ strong and industrious coalition. Particularly, Access Living, Illinois’ constant disability rights champion, fighting for access to the gold standard of healthcare in inclusive, robust communities for all.
We urge everyone in Illinois to contact Governor JB Pritzker to tell him to veto SB 1950, this dangerous bill which will put vulnerable Illinoisians at grave risk. We urge non-residents of the state to contact their Illinois partners, affiliates, and friends and to urge them to contact Governor Pritzker.
Governor Pritzker’s office contact information below:
Constituent Affairs Help Line: 217-782-0244
For hearing impaired (TTY): 888-261-3336
Springfield: Office of the Governor
401 S. Spring St.
Springfield, IL 62704
Phone: 217-782-6830 or 217-782-6831
Chicago: Office of the Governor
555 W. Monroe St., 16th Floor
Chicago, IL 60661
Phone: 312-814-2121 or 312-814-2122
In solidarity,
Ian McIntosh
Executive Director
Not Dead Yet