The governor of New York has announced that she will sign the assisted suicide bill into law. Since our state already has unrestricted killing of people in the womb, this now completes the war on vulnerable people who are judged to be “lives not worth living”. The Culture of Death marches on.
A Long Struggle
This tragic decision is the culmination of over thirty years of activism by assisted suicide proponents.
Back in 1994, no state had yet legalized assisted suicide (Oregon was the first to do so later that year). Activists decided to imitate the pro-abortion movement’s success in Roe v. Wade and took to the courts in hopes of a quick victory. Lawsuits were filed in Washington State and here in New York, seeking to have their legal bans on assisted suicide declared a violation of the federal constitution.
That effort failed in 1997 in the U.S. Supreme Court, with two landmark decisions in Washington v. Glucksberg and Vacco v. Quill. So the activists returned to the legislative process and built their momentum state by state. But it was slow going, and by 2015 only two additional states (Washington and Vermont) had legalized it.
The advocates here in New York then tried a dual strategy. They introduced their first bill in the legislature. They also went back to court, claiming that our law banning assisted suicide violated the state constitution.
Two consecutive attorneys general, who were no friends of the pro-life cause, vigorously defended the state law. We filed friend of the court briefs on behalf of the New York bishops, and several disabilities-rights organizations also came to our aid.
Amazingly, in 2017 our notoriously liberal state courts ruled in the case of Myers v. Schneiderman that there was no constitutional right to assisted suicide under our state constitution.
Now We’re on the Precipice
Despite all our best efforts, the legislature finally passed the Orwellian-named “Medical Aid in Dying Act” at the end of their 2025 term. It then sat in limbo for months while the governor refused to call it to her desk for signature. Now she has made the announcement that she will sign it, subject to the legislature agreeing to several amendments.
The amendments she is proposing include videotaping the request for deadly drugs, a longer waiting-period before they are dispensed, a limitation to New York residents, and a mandatory evaluation by a mental health professional. She is also proposing to strengthen some of the conscience protections for religious institutions and individuals.
These might mitigate the damage somewhat, but they don’t undo the inherent dangers of assisted suicide. As our bishops say in their statement:
This new law signals our government’s abandonment of its most vulnerable citizens, telling people who are sick or disabled that suicide in their case is not only acceptable, but is encouraged by our elected leaders. Tragically, this new law will seriously undermine all of the anti-suicide and mental health care investments Governor Hochul has made through her tenure. How can any society have credibility to tell young people or people with depression that suicide is never the answer, while at the same time telling elderly and sick people that it is a compassionate choice to be celebrated?
Wherever assisted suicide has been legalized, the advocates immediately push to expand it. Whatever “safeguards” that are put into place in the initial legislation, they will eventually be brushed aside – age limits, definitions of qualifying ailments, etc. The proponents are already saying that they intend to expand the bill’s reach.
The bill also lacks any real enforcement mechanisms, so there is no possibility that these “safeguards” will have any effect. It is an open invitation to abuse.
We are on the precipice of a true disaster. All one has to do is look to Canada to see that the “slippery slope” is actually a moral mineshaft.
The Voice of God
In her article announcing this decision, the governor noted that she reflected on the issue during a Catholic funeral and was moved to support the bill by the idea that “God is merciful and compassionate, and so must we be”.
Call me an old-fashioned Catholic, but when I’m trying to discern the will of God and to understand true mercy and compassion, I look to Sacred Scripture and the Church. Here is what Pope St. John Paul said:
Suicide is always as morally objectionable as murder. The Church’s tradition has always rejected it as a gravely evil choice… In fact, it involves the rejection of love of self and the renunciation of the obligation of justice and charity towards one’s neighbour, towards the communities to which one belongs, and towards society as a whole. In its deepest reality, suicide represents a rejection of God’s absolute sovereignty over life and death… To concur with the intention of another person to commit suicide and to help in carrying it out through so-called “assisted suicide” means to cooperate in, and at times to be the actual perpetrator of, an injustice which can never be excused, even if it is requested… True “compassion” leads to sharing another’s pain; it does not kill the person whose suffering we cannot bear. (Evangelium Vitae 66)
As depressing as this situation is, we will continue to work. We must educate people better about morally responsible ways to approach health care decisions. We must also redouble our efforts to support those who are nearing the end of life or struggling with long-term chronic illnesses.
Death may have a strong grip on the laws of New York, but the beauty and power of life is undiminished.
