* Background is here if you need it. During yesterday’s press conference, Gov. JB Pritzker was asked about the medical aid in dying bill [End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act] that’s sitting on his desk…

I’ve been listening to everybody that has a view on it. I have not announced anything or decided anything.

You know, every time I talk to somebody has a little bit of an effect, you’re sort of cumulatively gathering information. And I know there are people who feel passionately on both sides. I have said before that I have friends who’ve gone through this with their relatives, and it’s painful for the person who’s experiencing the pain in the last six months of their lives, as well as for the entire family, and sometimes with the, you know, competent decision-making on the part of somebody who’s suffering. It feels like for them it was the right thing to do. I’m talking about a specific circumstance I can think of in another state.

And then at the same time, I understand people who have religious values that say that this is inappropriate and that we should just provide hospice care and maybe make it as comfortable as we possibly can for somebody who’s dying.

So it’s a hard issue. And I don’t want anybody to think that making up your mind about this is very easy. I think there’s a lot to consider, but most of all, it’s about compassion. And again, there’s evidence and information on both sides that leads me to think seriously about what direction to go.

* He was also asked if he discussed the bill during his recent meeting with Pope Leo XIV…

It’s actually something that I brought up, and we didn’t have a conversation about it, because we were just, you know, at the beginning of our conversation, I think he and I were both kind of dismissing to each other the things that we may disagree about, because there are very few, honestly. But kind of acknowledging that there may be things that we disagree about. Obviously, we are members of different religions. Don’t really disagree so much. It’s just had differences in that way. So we kind of it, was a kind of a brief part of a conversation in which we were dismissing all those things and then getting to the things that we really have so much in common. And I so much respect who he is and what he represents. And of course, the fact that he’s from the state of Illinois is a great point of pride for all of us. \