Gabel Passes Measure to Give Terminally Ill Adults Compassionate Options to End their Suffering

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – State Rep. Robyn Gabel, D-Evanston, passed a measure out of the House that would allow terminally ill adults with decision-making capacity to request and receive prescription medication that could be self-administered to hasten their foreseeable deaths.

“This is vital progress towards ensuring terminally ill patients have a compassionate way to preserve their dignity and to allow them to choose for themselves to peacefully end their suffering,” Gabel said. “Patients who still are capable of making these decisions and who are facing enormous discomfort due to fatal medical problems deserve to maintain bodily autonomy.”

Gabel passed Senate Bill 1950 out of the House, which grants patients who have the mental fortitude and an incurable disease the freedom to obtain medication they can self-administer to peacefully end their lives.