NY Governor Says She Will Sign Medically Assisted Suicide Legislation

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks at a press conference in Manhattan in New York City on Feb. 20, 2025. Brendan McDermid/Reuters

NEW YORK—Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Dec. 17 that she will be signing the Medical Aid in Dying Act when the Legislature returns to Albany on Jan. 7.

She said her changes to the bill were approved by its sponsor and legislative leaders. The bill would allow the terminally ill, those who have less than six months to live, to ask for assisted suicide. Faith and religiously affiliated healthcare facilities and religious doctors would not have to provide the service.

Hochul wrote about her reasoning and decision to support the bill in an op-ed in the Times Union, published on Dec. 17. She said she believes that the government should allow people to have this option.

“Proudly, New York has long led the fights championing the rights of individuals ... In the true spirit of this country, government has a responsibility to protect, not interfere, with an individual’s deeply personal decisions,” she said.

Hochul’s additions to the bill include necessary confirmation from a doctor that the patient has less than six months to live, and approval from a psychiatrist or psychologist that the patient is not being forced against his or her will.

The additions stipulate a five-day waiting period, in case the patient changes mind. They must also give written and oral confirmation of their free will in the matter. Anyone who could financially benefit from the assisted suicide will not be allowed to be a witness or interpreter.

“These are fundamental protections to ensure vulnerable people aren’t pressured, misled, or left without alternatives,” Hochul said.

The right to assisted suicide will be for New Yorkers only, the governor said.

Hochul said her decision was influenced by her own experience, having watched her own mother slowly die from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

Hochul, a Catholic, said she “understand[s] and respect[s]” views from people who believe that “deliberately shortening one’s life violates the sanctity of life.”

The New York Alliance Against Assisted Suicide published a statement on Dec. 17, saying it “unequivocally opposes this legislation and urges the Governor to reverse course.”

The organization says that even with the changes, the legislation puts pressure on those who may feel like a burden on others and abandons the state’s duty to protect vulnerable people.

Timothy Cardinal Dolan and the Bishops of New York State put out a statement on Hochul’s decision on Dec. 17, one day before Cardinal Dolan stepped down as Archbishop of New York. It reads, “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.”

Cardinal Dolan said that assisted suicide is in opposition to Catholic teaching.

“We pray that our state turn away from its promotion of a Culture of Death and invest instead in life-affirming, compassionate hospice and palliative care, which is seriously underutilized.”