Access Living friends and allies,
We have learned that unfortunately, the Governor of Illinois, J.B. Pritzker, has signed SB 1950, the assisted suicide bill. Here is the news release. We are extremely disappointed and troubled by this outcome.
During the last 48 hours, we and our partners worked hard to ask Governor JB Pritzker to oppose SB 1950, the Illinois assisted suicide bill. Here’s a recap of those efforts.
First, Access Living and disability partners met with Governor’s office staff yesterday. We were joined by two important guests, Melissa Ortiz and Dan Sescleifer, the father of Jane Allen. Melissa, Dan, and Jane all faced terrible disability-related situations that happened in areas where assisted suicide is legal, and where the law is similar to SB 1950. Their stories demonstrated that despite safeguards, bad situations will happen. Access Living also shared our many concerns regarding establishing an assisted suicide system in Illinois.
Second, disability organizations and individual advocates continued to contact the Governor’s office to ask for a veto of SB 1950. We thank all of you for taking action on this very controversial issue.
Third, we held a vigil with our partners yesterday outside the Governor’s Chicago offices. Access Living is part of the Stop Assisted Suicide Illinois coalition.Our coalition members vary widely in constituency and philosophy, but we share the same understanding that allowing an assisted suicide system in Illinois will create potentially grave consequences. We were fortunate to garner media attention at the below links:
CBS News from yesterday afternoon
Again, we are deeply disappointed by this outcome. For now, we are taking a moment to regroup and will update you, our community, on our next steps.