NY Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Catholic, will sign assisted suicide bill with added safeguards after years of opposition from Catholic leaders and disability advocates
Newsroom (18/12/2025 Gaudium Press )New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday that she will sign legislation allowing medically assisted suicide for terminally ill patients, positioning the state to become the 13th jurisdiction in the United States to permit the practice.
The Democratic governor, who described the decision as one of the most difficult of her tenure, revealed her intention in an op-ed published in the Albany Times Union. Hochul, a practicing Catholic and alumna of the Catholic University of America, said she reached her conclusion after listening to New Yorkers enduring severe pain and their families, while weighing strong objections from faith communities.
“I was taught that God is merciful and compassionate, and so must we be,” Hochul wrote. “This includes permitting a merciful option to those facing the unimaginable and searching for comfort in their final months in this life.”
The Medical Aid in Dying Act, first introduced in 2016 and passed by lawmakers earlier this year, would allow terminally ill adults expected to die within six months to obtain life-ending medication from physicians. The baseline bill requires a written request signed by two witnesses, followed by approvals from the patient’s attending physician and a consulting physician.
Hochul said sponsors and legislative leaders have agreed to incorporate several additional “guardrails” she requested. These include confirmation by a medical doctor that the patient has less than six months to live, an evaluation by a psychologist or psychiatrist verifying decision-making capacity and absence of duress, a mandatory five-day waiting period, and both a written and recorded oral request to ensure voluntariness.
The law will also restrict eligibility to New York residents, permit outpatient facilities affiliated with religious hospitals to opt out, and take effect six months after signing, which Hochul plans for next year.
Speaking later Wednesday, Hochul invoked her personal experience watching her mother die from ALS. “My mother died of ALS, and I am all too familiar with the pain of seeing someone you love suffer and being powerless to stop it,” she said. “Who am I to deny you or your loved one what they’re begging for at the end of their life? I couldn’t do that any longer.”
Supporters argue the measure will reduce suffering and grant terminally ill individuals autonomy over their final days. New York now joins California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, Illinois, and the District of Columbia in legalizing the practice. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed similar legislation last week, set to take effect next year.
Opposition remains fierce, particularly from Catholic leaders. Cardinal Timothy Dolan and the bishops of New York state issued a statement expressing deep concern over Hochul’s announcement, calling assisted suicide “a grave moral evil” that conflicts with Catholic teaching on the sanctity of human life.
“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,” the bishops said in a Dec. 17 statement.
The New York State Catholic Conference has long fought the legislation, arguing it devalues human life and erodes the physician’s role as healer. The bishops further contended that the law undermines broader anti-suicide and mental health initiatives, questioning how society can credibly discourage suicide among youth or those with depression while presenting it as compassionate for the elderly and ill.
They urged greater investment in palliative and hospice care instead, describing such care as “seriously underutilized” in New York.
The Patients’ Rights Action Fund, a nonpartisan organization opposing assisted suicide, echoed these concerns. Executive Director Matt Vallière said added safeguards “are falling short” and fail to prevent abuse or coercion. He cited cases in other states where individuals with mental illness accessed the option and argued the law discriminates against vulnerable populations.
“Gov. Hochul’s statements undermine the importance of hospice and palliative care, which provides the compassionate end-of-life experience for which so many are advocating but is drastically underutilized in New York,” Vallière said. “We need more access to this care, not a fast track to death in the absence of it.”
Despite years of stalemate driven largely by religious and disability-rights opposition, Hochul’s endorsement clears the final hurdle for the bill’s enactment. The governor framed the policy as an extension of personal freedom consistent with New York’s progressive legacy.
“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,” she said, adding that the law would allow people “to suffer less — to shorten not their lives, but their deaths.”
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Crux now and CNA
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