The following is a reprint from Ed Mechmann’s blog, “Stepping Out of the Boat,” from April 28. Reprinted with permission.

Sadly, the New York State Assembly passed the Medical Aid in Dying Act yesterday, April 29th. It now goes to the Senate.

New York has a notoriously terrible state government. One-party rule, a total lack of transparency and accountability, contempt for legal process, fiscal irresponsibility, administrative incompetence, and a history of corruption all put New York near the worst in any scale of government dysfunction.

Anyone who has the misfortune of looking closely at the shamelessly awful annual budget process can see this plainly. All decisions are hashed out in secret by the infamous “Three People in a Room” – the governor and the leaders of the two houses of the legislature – with no meaningful input by individual lawmakers and none at all for the public.

This is bad enough when it comes to the basic issues of government services. But the state also has a long record of pushing for the most extreme measures of the Culture of Death. We are on the verge of the latest horror.

Advocates have been unsuccessfully pushing a bill legalizing assisted suicide for many years in the New York legislature. A decade ago, they tried an end-run around the democratic process but were defeated in our Court of Appeals.

But now, suddenly and without warning, the legislative leaders have apparently decided to push the bill forward for a vote. They haven’t even done their job to pass a budget on time (they’re almost a month late on that basic task) yet they’re going to rush through a radical bill that will affect the lives and health care of every person in the state.

There is no groundswell of public opinion demanding this radical attack on life and medical ethics. It’s entirely a creature of a small group who are ideologically committed to this distorted version of a “freedom to choose.”

The dangers of legalizing assisted suicide are well-established. A coalition led by disabilities-rights advocates, along with religious groups of various denominations, has been warning about the risks assisted suicide poses – which can be seen clearly in other places where it has been legalized.

Assisted suicide makes a mockery of medical ethics. It violates the ancient and revered Hippocratic Oath to “do no harm” and transforms healers into killers. It puts vulnerable individuals – people with disabilities, the elderly, poor people, immigrants, and those in areas that already have inadequate health care — in an impossible position, open to pressure to end their lives so as not to be a “burden” to their families. And in a state where high health care costs are endemic, the pressure from hospitals, nursing homes, government and insurance companies to cut costs will be extreme and inevitable.

Similar expansions have taken place in the United States as well. Everywhere it’s been legalized, the numbers of assisted suicides increase every year. Once the camel’s nose is under the tent there’s no stopping it.

In our state, suicide is already the second-leading cause of injury-related deaths – more than homicides and automobile accidents. Our state spends millions trying to prevent suicides. Yet legalization of assisted suicide undermines that message and tells people that some lives are not worth living – if the person is sick or disabled. That’s an appalling message to send.

New York’s terrible government can be impervious to public opinion. The powers-that-be design it that way. But this issue is too important for us to shrug our shoulders and give up in the face of a closed system. Please take up the call from our bishops and contact your legislators right away and urge them to oppose this dangerous and deadly bill. Maybe this one time, New York’s government can actually work.