Dear Governor Pritzker,
[I’m/we’re] writing as an [individual or organization] who appreciates your long record of supporting disability rights, racial equity, and healthcare access. Your leadership during the COVID vaccine rollout, focus on protecting communities of color, and support for bills like HB 5373 meant a great deal to marginalized communities who are often left out of policy conversations.
[I/we] ask you to veto SB 1950, the assisted suicide bill. Many communities you’ve supported, including disabled people, communities of color, low-income residents, and others who face serious healthcare disparities would be put at serious risk if this bill becomes law.
Legislators who supported SB 1950 excluded the disability community and other stakeholders who would be directly affected. The Racial Impact Note explicitly says that no analysis of racial impact was conducted, despite well-documented connections between race, disability, illness, and access to care. That’s deeply troubling for a bill with such serious consequences.
SB 1950 also lacks crucial safeguards. It does not require psychiatric evaluations to ensure informed consent, and it includes confidentiality rules that would make it nearly impossible to investigate cases of coercion or abuse. Section 70 prevents courts, oversight agencies, or even medical boards from accessing records they would need to determine whether an assisted suicide was forced or coerced. Without the ability to review evidence, there’s no way to protect vulnerable people.
In states with similar laws, insurers have denied life-sustaining treatments, while offering to pay for lethal drugs instead. Disabled people who were not terminally ill but who had chronic physical conditions, mental illnesses, or developmental disabilities, have been pressured into assisted suicide because they lacked other options or support. That isn’t a choice.
SB 1950 risks worsening existing inequities. Oregon’s data shows 77–79% of assisted suicide deaths involved Medicare and/or Medicaid recipients, raising concerns that certain communities are being pushed toward lethal treatments instead of receiving the healthcare they need and want. SB 1950 does not even collect information about income, making it impossible to detect these disparities.
Many disability organizations, medical groups, and others oppose assisted suicide laws, including the Illinois State Medical Society, American Medical Association, National Council on Disability, National Center for Independent Living, and the United Nations. In Illinois, about four times as many residents opposed SB 1950 as its supporters, based on witness slips filed.
You’ve stood up for marginalized communities before and have said that if Donald Trump came for Illinoisans, he’d have to go through you. We need your protection now. The disability community and other vulnerable groups will be disproportionately and irreversibly harmed if SB 1950 becomes law.
Please veto SB 1950 to uphold your pledges to equity, safety, and healthcare justice for all of us. Thank you for leadership and support.
Sincerely,
[Your name & the name of any organization you’re affiliated with]