The Illinois assisted suicide law has triggered an unusually direct rebuke from Pope Leo, pulling a state-level decision in the United States into a widening global dispute over end-of-life policy, medical ethics, and the role of the state in decisions over death.
Illinois lawmakers approved the legislation during the 2025 legislative session, with Governor JB Pritzker signing it into law on 12 December 2025. The measure was presented as a tightly regulated option for terminally ill patients seeking control over the timing of their death. Until Pope Leo's remarks, the Illinois assisted suicide law was largely treated as a domestic policy issue, debated within US legal and medical circles rather than on the international stage.
