CV NEWS FEED // The New York State Catholic Conference is calling on Catholics in New York to oppose the latest effort to legalize assisted suicide in the state.
Legislators in New York are once again attempting to pass a The Medical Aid in Dying Act—A995/S2445—a bill that would allow doctors to prescribe lethal medications to terminally ill patients.
The Conference, which represents the state’s Catholic bishops in public policy issues, has urged Catholics for the past two years to express their opposition towards the bill each time it has been put forward.
“Lawmakers need to hear from their constituents if we hope to avoid yet another assault on human life here,” the Conference stated in the latest action alert on the issue. “Assisted suicide is dangerous for patients, caregivers, and vulnerable populations such as the elderly and people with disabilities. Suicide is not medical care.”
The Conference described the bill as “particularly dangerous for certain citizens” of New York, such as the elderly, the poor, those without insurance, those living with disabilities, or those suffering from depression:
Such individuals will be pressured into choosing death over life by health insurance decisions to fund only the least costly treatment; by family members feeling over-burdened or even those wishing to exploit their loved ones; by medical professionals who may subtly make judgments about whose lives are worth living.
A state policy of physician-assisted suicide can only lead to coercion and abuse.
In 2022 and 2023, the Conference sent out similar alerts, urging Catholics to contact their representatives and demand that they “vote no” on bills which would legalize assisted suicide.
“Implementing assisted suicide as an accepted medical ‘treatment’ sends the message that our most vulnerable populations are not worth the resources it might take to improve their lives,” the Catholic conference stated in a May 2023 memo.