Sponsors of a physician-assisted suicide bill in Illinois are trying to get a measure that would make it the 12th state to legalize medical aid in dying before the legislative session ends on Saturday.

Illinois House Majority Leader Robyn Gabel, a Democrat from Evanston, attached an amendment with the language of a stalled physician-assisted suicide bill into a food preparation sanitation bill, SB 1950, that the state Senate has already passed.

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Legislators in the House and Senate filed versions of full physician-assisted suicide bills in January. There has been no movement on the stand-alone legislation in either chamber.

But adding the physician-assisted suicide language to SB 1950 means that the Senate will only need to concur with the amendment should the full bill pass the House.

The amendment added to SB 1950, known as “End of Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients,” allows a patient to be prescribed and to self-administer life-ending medication if they are diagnosed to have less than six months left to live.

“Medical aid in dying is a trusted and time-tested medical practice that is part of the full spectrum of end-of-life care options,” Gabel said during a House Executive Committee hearing on Wednesday.

Twelve other states, along with the District of Columbia, have legalized medical aid in dying, with Oregon being the first to do so in 1994. Delaware is the latest state to enact such a law, as Gov. Matt Meyer (D-DE) signed the practice into law last week.

Voting on the bill in the Illinois House is expected to take place sometime either late Thursday evening or on Friday, amid a myriad of legislation that is also being pushed before the end of the legislative session.

Republican state Rep. Bill Hauter, a practicing physician, said Wednesday during committee debates on the amendment that Democrats are squeezing the measure “inside of a shell bill with little chance for really important stakeholders” to comment.

“I can confidently speak for a significant majority of the house of medicine in that this topic really violates and is incompatible with our oath, our sacred and ancient oath, and what we’ve been taught,” Hauter said.

Hauter’s office did not respond to the Washington Examiner with requests for further comment.

Disability advocacy groups have long argued that medical aid in dying or physician-assisted suicide places those with extreme chronic conditions or disabilities in a vulnerable position.

The Patients Rights Action Fund, a disability rights group, urged Illinois voters on Wednesday to contact their state representatives after the amendment was added to the bill.

In the email blast to supporters, the PRAF characterized the bill as “a last-minute attempt to pass physician-assisted suicide without having a full conversation on such an important issue in the House.” 

Callie Riley, a spokesperson for the pro-MAID group Compassion and Choices, told the Washington Examiner that the group strongly supports the legislative effort.

“Patients who access medical aid in dying want to live,” Riley said. “But they will not. They are terminally ill, and they will die. The only question remaining, which this legislation answers, is how much autonomy will the dying person have at the end of their life?”

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According to a study conducted by Compassion and Choices alongside WebMD, 58% of Illinois physicians supported legalized medical aid in dying or physician-assisted suicide.

Nearly 2 in 5 physicians in Illinois said they would be willing to write a prescription for life-ending medication for a qualifying patient. An equal percentage said they would not be willing to do so. The rest were unsure.