New York Senate passes bill legalizing assisted suicide amid mounting debate

New York’s Democrat-led state Senate passed an assisted suicide bill Monday night, one that has renewed debate over the moral, ethical and religious implications of “death with dignity” legislation.

The bill now goes to the desk of Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat who has not publicly stated whether she would sign it.

If signed, the Medical Aid in Dying Act will allow mentally competent adults with six months or less to live to request and self-administer life-ending medication.

The state’s Senate passed the measure with a 35-27 vote, while the New York Assembly passed the bill last month, 81-67.

If Ms. Hochul signs the bill into law, New York would become the 12th state to enact assisted suicide legislation since Oregon first did so in 1997. Delaware legalized the physician-assisted suicide just last month, and the District of Columbia enacted a similar measure in 2016.

Proponents have been trying for years to legalize assisted suicide in New York.

Corinne Carey helped lobby for New Jersey’s enactment of an assisted suicide law last year. She argued that patients already had the right to refuse treatment or choose palliative sedation and said assisted suicide was a more humane extension of protocol.

“Why are we not giving people the option to gather their friends, their family, their loved ones together, say goodbye and die in a way that’s consistent with their own faith and their own beliefs?” Ms. Carey, the New York and New Jersey campaign director for Compassion & Choices, told The Washington Times. “That should be a right of every New Yorker.”

Opponents say such legislation sends the wrong message to vulnerable populations, especially the elderly and disabled and those without access to proper medical care.

“It’s entering like a perfect eugenical storm,” said Ian McIntosh, interim director of the disability rights group Not Dead Yet. “To frame assisted suicide as a choice while ignoring all of these pressures is a lie at best. There’s no way those who need special help won’t suddenly feel like more of a burden.”

Disability advocates have been some of the proposal’s most vocal critics, though Ms. Carey said most disabled New Yorkers favor the measure.

“We’re worried about people being funneled into a system that is basically ending people with disabilities’ lives,” said Alex Thompson, advocacy director for the New York Association on Independent Living. “We are frequently fighting against cuts to home care … and this bill sends the message that the solution is death, not dignity.”

A recent poll commissioned by Death With Dignity and the Completed Life Initiative found that 64% of New Yorkers support the legislation. However, critics question whether those polled knew exactly what it meant.

Supporters of the bill said it includes guardrails that require a genuine terminal diagnosis as a criterion for assisted suicide.

However, Mr. Thompson says those guardrails will be loosened soon enough. He cited Oregon data showing that “the top reasons people are choosing assisted suicide are things like loss of autonomy, reliance on others for caregiving, disability-related issues. Not pain. Not terminal agony.”

Some fear New York is headed down a path similar to that in Canada, where physician-assisted dying became legal in 2016 and eligibility has since expanded.

By 2027, Canadians with mental illness alone will qualify, thanks to upcoming shifts in the law. A 2024 government report found that nearly half of Canadian applicants cited a “perceived burden” as a reason for requesting death.

Dovie Eisner, a 34-year-old disabled New Yorker, nearly died last year when his ventilator disconnected during the night. In a recent piece for UnHerd, he wrote that keeping him alive could have been deemed “too burdensome” under the auspices of the proposed law.

“I was alive — thanks to the determination of law enforcers and local medical personnel to keep me that way,” Mr. Eisner wrote. “New York’s proposed Medical Aid in Dying Act threatens to undo this presumption in favor of lifesaving, especially for people with disabilities such as me.

“I don’t want to die,” he added. “And God willing, I’ve got another couple of decades left. But all things aren’t always equal. … I fear for a world in which life is cheap.”

Religious leaders have also condemned the legislation. New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan called the bill a betrayal of the state’s suicide prevention efforts.

“How is this compassion?” Cardinal Dolan wrote in First Things. “Is it any wonder that insurance providers are often supporters of assisted suicide legislation, wanting to protect their bottom line from patients who might live an extra few weeks or months with proper care?”

Assembly member Amy Paulin, a Democrat who co-sponsored the bill, told The Times that she had difficulty understanding religious critics.

“I think the people who are against it are coming from a religious point of view,” she said. “So it’s tough for me to articulate, you know, that inner concern because I don’t share it.”

In her view, “suicide” isn’t the right word to describe what the bill would allow.

“They want the option of dying with their loved ones around,” Ms. Paulin said. “They know they’re going to die. Suicide is someone who wants to die, not someone who wants to live, which is what, who these people are.”

Advocates say now is the time for things to shift. 

“There has never been an expose, there’s never been a horror story, there’s never been a big legal case, or a disciplinary proceeding, where these laws have been used,” Ms. Carey said. “That should count for something.”

Critics hope Ms. Hochul will veto the bill, citing her record of anti-suicide measures within her state. She has remained tight-lipped however.

“It’ll make no sense for her to sign this bill into law, given how much she’s been pushing back against suicide and endorsing mental health in this state,” said one insider close to the New York Senate, speaking on background. 

They added that the newly-passed bill has no psychiatric evaluation requirement, something with which they hope the governor will take issue. 

“We’ll have to see. We’re incredibly disappointed,” the insider added.