The New York State Senate passed a bill June 9, 2025, to legalize physician-assisted suicide in the state, in spite of strong opposition from Bishop Salvatore R. Matano, his fellow Catholic bishops and a host of other organizations. The state Assembly had passed its version of the bill on April 29, and the legislation now is headed to the desk of Gov. Kathy Hochul.
“I strongly urge Governor Hochul to veto this legalization of physician-assisted suicide, for it will inevitably put tremendous pressure on our most vulnerable citizens to end their lives,” Bishop Matano said in a June 10 statement.
Opponents fear legislation is ‘only the beginning’
The bills passed by the Senate and Assembly would amend the state’s public-health law to allow a terminally ill adult with a prognosis of six months or less to request from a physician a medication that would hasten his or her death, if the patient decided to take it.
The Senate passed its version of the Medical Aid in Dying Act by a vote of 35-27 following two hours of debate, although several senators who voted in favor of the legislation nonetheless expressed reservations about it. Their concerns are shared by New York’s Catholic bishops, who explained their opposition to the legislation in an April 24 statement. Passage of the legislation would leave vulnerable people — including those with disabilities, the elderly, and residents of impoverished and medically underserved communities — subject to pressure and coercion to end their lives “so as not to be a burden to society or an excessive cost to insurance companies,” the bishops wrote.
Legislation similarly focused only on people with terminal illnesses was adopted in Canada in 2016, yet within a few years the Canadian legislation was expanded to also allow those with chronic conditions to end their lives. In 2027, the law is set to expand again, this time to include those “whose only underlying condition is mental illness, such as depression, anxiety or anorexia,” the New York bishops noted in April.
The legislation passed by the New York’s Senate and Assembly does not contain any requirement for a psychological screening for depression or other mental illness, nor does it require a brief waiting period for those who may be in despair following receipt of a terminal diagnosis, according to a June 9 statement from Dennis Poust, executive director of the New York State Catholic Conference, which represents the state’s bishops in public-policy matters. The legislation undermines Gov. Hochul’s efforts to increase access to mental-health care and address the suicide crisis in New York state, Poust said.
“Make no mistake — this is only the beginning, and the only person standing between New York and the assisted suicide nightmare unfolding in Canada is Governor Hochul,” he wrote.
Poust said he expects that Hochul, after reviewing the legislation, will side with the 27 Democrats in the state Legislature who joined Republicans in voting against the bill.
“This bill would be catastrophic for medically underserved communities, including communities of color, as well as for people with disabilities and other vulnerable populations who will be at the mercy of a healthcare industry that will soon be reeling from federal Medicaid cuts,” Poust said.
Suicide is not the answer, bishops say, calling for expansion of palliative care, mental-health services, caregiver support
The state’s Catholic bishops reject the notion that suicide is ever a solution, Poust said. Bishop Matano agreed, noting in his statement that in an era of health-care rationing and cost cutting, “assisted suicide could easily rise to the level of the most acceptable, inexpensive and even expected ‘treatment’ for terminal illnesses.”
“What is needed is support for and the further exploration of healthcare measures that will effectively relieve suffering, so that the terminally ill might known and feel the love, concern, compassion and care of a society that protects and cherishes them. This, in itself, eases the greatest pain, which attacks the heart when people feel no one cares,” Bishop Matano said.
The state’s bishops call on the state to expand palliative and hospice care, mental health services and support for family caregivers, Poust added.
Local Catholic medical professionals oppose assisted-suicide legislation
New York’s bishops are not alone in their opposition to assisted suicide. On June 10, Dr. Thomas Carroll, past president of the Finger Lakes Guild of the Catholic Medical Association, sent Hochul a letter outlining the organization’s reasons for opposing the legislation and imploring her not to sign it.
“Medically, the legalization of assisted suicide directly conflicts with the fundamental principles outlined in medical guidelines for sound health care provision, first outlined in the ancient Hippocratic Oath and uninterruptedly re-interated to the present time in the ethical codes of professional medical organizations,” Carroll wrote.
In fact, on June 9, the House of Delegates of the American Medical Association — the largest professional organization representing American physicians — voted to uphold the organization’s longstanding opposition to physician-assisted suicide, Carroll wrote.
The legalization of physician-assisted suicide also would undermine “the trust inherent in the physician-patient relationship,” he wrote. “The prospect of medical practitioners becoming agents of intentional death profoundly changes this relationship from one of mutual trust and healing to one of suspicion and anxiety.”
Like the bishops, Carroll also noted that patients could feel pressured to prematurely end their lives, or begin to view suicide as an acceptable response to suffering. The Finger Lakes Guild is asking local Catholics to contact Hochul and ask her not to sign the legislation.
Groups representing families, feminists also oppose legislation
Feminists Choosing Life of New York also decried the Senate’s passage of the assisted-suicide legislation, joining the state’s bishops in encouraging Hochul to veto it, according to a June 10 statement from Michele Sterlace-Accorsi, the organization’s executive director.
“In 2024, Governor Hochul ensured millions of dollars for suicide prevention efforts in New York. On behalf of our brothers and sisters at risk of suicide, we’re asking Governor Hochul to please stand strong, and stay true to her word to keep fighting to end the violence of suicide,” the statement said.
Bipartisan opposition to the bill indicates the unease many feel about this legislation, according to a June 9 statement from the New York Alliance Against Assisted Suicide.
“Society doesn’t condone suicide for the healthy — why should it for those facing illness or disability? … (Legislators’) concerns reflect what we hear every day from New Yorkers — this is not the direction our state should go,” the alliance stated.
The Senate’s passage of assisted-suicide legislation represents the state’s abandonment of its commitment to protect the most vulnerable and sends the chilling message that some lives are no longer worth living, according to a June 10 statement from Jason J. McGuire, executive director of New York Families Action. He joined calls for Hochul to veto the Medical Aid in Dying Act.
“Governor Hochul still has the opportunity — and the responsibility — to prevent New York from crossing this irreversible moral line. We pray she will do the right thing and veto state-sanctioned suicide,” McGuire said.
