Democrat New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill on Friday legalizing assisted suicide for terminally ill New Yorkers with less than six months to live.
The law expanding the state’s culture of death will go into effect in six months to allow the Department of Health to put regulations into place, making New York the 13th state, plus Washington, D.C. to legalize physician-assisted suicide. Hochul released a statement equating assisted suicide with “freedoms” and a “right to bodily autonomy” — a similar argument used by pro-abortion and pro-transgender activists who promote mutilation and the killing of unborn babies.
“Our state will always stand firm in safeguarding New Yorkers’ freedoms and right to bodily autonomy, which includes the right for the terminally ill to peacefully and comfortably end their lives with dignity and compassion,” Hochul claimed.
“This journey was deeply personal for me. Witnessing my mother’s suffering from ALS was an excruciating experience, knowing there was nothing I could do to alleviate the pain of someone I loved. It took years of intimate discussions with our bill sponsors, health experts, advocates, and most importantly, families who have similar firsthand experiences. New Yorkers deserve the choice to endure less suffering, not by shortening their lives, but by shortening their deaths — I firmly believe we made the right decision.”
The bill, called the “Medical Aid in Dying” bill by supporters, was first sent to Hochul’s desk in June of 2025. The legislation sat on her desk for months before the self-professing Catholic sent it back to the legislature in late December with a demand for additional safeguards to limit the potential for patient coercion.
At the time, Cardinal Timothy Dolan said in a joint statement with New York’s bishops that the 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,” he said. “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?”
Dolan continued:
While physician-assisted suicide will soon be legal here in New York, we must clearly reiterate that it is in direct conflict with Catholic teaching on the sacredness and dignity of all human life from conception until natural death and is a grave moral evil on par with other direct attacks on human life. We call on Catholics and all New Yorkers to reject physician-assisted suicide for themselves, their loved ones, and those in their care. And we pray that our state turn away from its promotion of a Culture of Death and invest instead in life-affirming, compassionate hospice and palliative care, which is seriously underutilized.
The legislation allows physicians to prescribe lethal drugs to people with a prognosis of six months or less to live. Per Hochul’s office, the law includes:
- A mandatory waiting period of 5 days between when a prescription is written and filled.
- An oral request by the patient for medical aid in dying must be recorded by video or audio.
- A mandatory mental health evaluation of the patient seeking medical aid in dying by a psychologist or psychiatrist.
- A prohibition against anyone who may benefit financially from the death of a patient from being eligible to serve as a witness to the oral request or an interpreter for the patient.
- Limiting the availability of medical aid in dying to New York residents.
- Requiring that the initial evaluation of a patient by a physician be in person.
- Allowing religiously-oriented home hospice providers to opt out of offering medical aid in dying.
- Ensuring that a violation of the law is defined as professional misconduct under the Education Law.
- Extending the effective date of the bill to six months after signing to allow the Department of Health to put into place regulations required to implement the law while also ensuring that health care facilities can properly prepare and train staff for compliance.
Democrat Assemblymember Amy Paulin called the legislation’s signing a “historic day for New York.”
“The Medical Aid in Dying Act gives New Yorkers the dignity they deserve at the most vulnerable moment in their lives. This legislation is about love, autonomy, and easing needless suffering,” she claimed. “My sister died a horrific death from ovarian cancer, and in her final days she was in pain so overwhelming that she begged for death. Her experience is, tragically, the story of so many others. Most people will never choose medical aid in dying, but they want the reassurance of having it as a compassionate safeguard that offers comfort even if it is never used. I am profoundly grateful to Governor Hochul for recognizing the deep compassion at the heart of this legislation and to the extraordinary advocates who have spent years working to make this day possible.”
Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, issued a statement condemning the bill and pointing out that “assisted suicide is suicide, no matter how its advocates try to rebrand it.”
“New York has chosen to redefine suicide as a medical treatment, sending a chilling message to people who are sick, disabled, or struggling that their lives are less worth protecting,” Tobias said.
“True compassion does not offer a lethal prescription in place of care,” she added. “New Yorkers deserve better pain management, better emotional support, and better end-of-life care — not a shortcut to death.”
Hochul signed the bill soon after Illinois became the 12th state to legalize doctor-assisted killings.
RELATED: ‘Suicide Pod’ Inventor Creating AI-Powered Device for Couples to Die Together
Opponents of physician-assisted suicide raise concerns that the practice will begin with the terminally ill and expand recklessly to different populations depending on political whim, as seen in places like Canada and the Netherlands. In 2023, 1 in 20 deaths were attributed to MAID (Medical Aid in Dying) in Canada, and there are documented cases of struggling young people successfully pursuing euthanasia in the Netherlands because they are “tired of living.”
Advocates for people with disabilities also warn that legalizing assisted suicide puts disabled individuals at risk for financial and emotional coercion, as they are often viewed as having a worse quality of life than others and would more likely be targeted with messaging promoting assisted suicide.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
Read the full article here