Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) will support a state bill to legalize assisted suicide for terminally ill New Yorkers, she announced on Wednesday.
The Medical Aid in Dying Act, passed through the New York legislature, would allow terminally ill patients over the age of 18 to request medically assisted suicide if they are medically verified to have less than six months to live.
Hochul, a Catholic, wrote an op-ed for the Times Union on Wednesday morning, detailing the background of her decision-making to ultimately support the bill with additional guardrails. Between discussing her experience of watching her mother pass from ALS and reflecting on the topic during Catholic mass, Hochul said she reached her decision through speaking with New Yorkers directly affected by slow suffering.
“I am all too familiar with the pain of seeing someone you love suffer and feeling powerless to stop it,” Hochul wrote. “At the same time, there are individuals of many faiths who believe that deliberately shortening one’s life violates the sanctity of life. I understand and respect those views. But as I have spoken with people tormented by pain, I have come to see this as a matter of individual choice that does not have to be about shortening life but rather about shortening dying.”
Hochul said the bill’s sponsors agreed to include her additional proposed regulations, including the requirement that a doctor verify the individual’s suffering is likely to result in death within six months and that a psychologist or psychiatrist verify the individual can decide on their own volition.
The bill with the additional amendments will be passed through the legislature in January, signed by Hochul, and then will take effect six months later, according to her office.
She also explained that there would be a five-day waiting period for patients to change their minds; that the bill would only apply to New Yorkers, not out-of-state patients; and that patients would need to confirm their decision was made on their own free will, both verbally and in writing. Those who may financially benefit from the individual’s death would also be barred from serving as a request witness or interpreter.
“New York has long been a beacon of freedom, and now it is time we extend that freedom to terminally ill New Yorkers who want the right to die comfortably and on their own terms,” Hochul said in a statement.
New York will become the 13th state to authorize medically assisted suicide. Illinois also enacted right-to-die legislation, with Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) signing the bill on Friday.
Several religious groups are railing against the decision. New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan and the New York state bishops issued a joint statement on Wednesday opposing Hochul’s decision.
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“We are extraordinarily troubled by Governor Hochul’s announcement that she will sign the egregious bill passed by the legislature earlier this year sanctioning physician-assisted suicide in New York State,” the joint statement said. “This new 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.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who is challenging Hochul for governor in 2026, called the bill “disgusting” and “a shameful attack on the sanctity of life” when the New York state Assembly passed the bill in May.
