New York moves to legalize assisted suicide

A bill legalizing assisted suicide is currently awaiting New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s signature after being passed by the state legislature on Monday.

“This is one of the great social reforms of our state,” said state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal (D-Manhattan), who sponsored the bill in the upper chamber. “This is about personal autonomy, this is about liberty, this is about exercising one’s own freedom to control one’s body,” he added.

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Despite this claim to support the "freedom to control one’s body,” in 2021, Hoylman-Sigal introduced a bill to bar unvaccinated Americans from entering the state. He also introduced legislation to strengthen vaccine mandates for children by canceling religious exemptions.

The Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD) bill would allow physicians to prescribe lethal drugs to patients who have six months to live or less. Patients must have approval from at least two doctors and produce confirmation from two witnesses that they are of sound mind. The legislation does not require a mandatory waiting period, in-person appointments with doctors, or other safeguards, according to critics. If Governor Hochul signs it into law, New York would become the 12th state to legalize assisted suicide. Delaware legalized it last month, joining California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and Washington, DC.

Dennis Poust, executive director of the New York State Catholic Conference, warned that the MAiD bill “is only the beginning.” 

“For the first time in its history, New York is on the verge of authorizing doctors to help their patients commit suicide,” Poust said in a statement published by Breitbart. “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.” 

MAiD in Canada

Since becoming available to nearly all Canadians in March 2021, Canada’s MAiD program has become a go-to option for doctors recommending "treatment" of citizens who are suffering from various medical conditions. In 2023, 15,280 Canadians died by MAiD, representing about 4.6% of all deaths. Proponents have described the program as a “humane” solution to poverty and an end to discrimination. Critics, who include the United Nations, have called on Canadian officials to restrict eligibility for the program.

Although it was originally approved as an option for patients with terminal illnesses, it is becoming increasingly common for healthcare professionals in Canada to offer MAiD to patients who suffer from non-terminal maladies. Thirty-seven-year-old Kayla Pollock, for example, was twice offered MAiD by hospital staff when she became paralyzed after her COVID-19 Moderna shot. In another case, a man in his late 40s who suffered from a psychiatric condition caused by the COVID-19 vaccine died by assisted suicide. Tracy Polewczuk, who suffers from spina bifida, was twice offered MAiD after she broke her leg. When 52-year-old Christine Gauthier petitioned for a wheelchair lift to be installed in her house, Canada's Veterans Affairs office offered her assisted suicide.

Canada hopes to extend the MAiD program even further. In 2027, people suffering from mental illnesses will be eligible for assisted suicide, and the Quebec College of Physicians has advocated for extending it to deformed or severely ill infants. A parliamentary committee has recommended expanding MAiD to “mature minors.”

The program has even shocked the United Nations, an institution not known for moral clarity. In March, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities said it was “extremely concerned” about Canada’s MAiD program and urged restrictions that limit eligibility to those with terminal conditions.

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