A Call to Action

Many of you may be aware that on April 29, 2025, the New York State Assembly passed a bill to legalize assisted suicide in New York State.  This was a sad day.  Then, we learned late last week that the NYS Senate was planning to vote on the bill yesterday (June 9, 2025). 

By midafternoon yesterday, I began regularly checking the status of the bill in the NYS Senate.  Around 9:15 pm I learned the bill had been passed by the NYS Senate.  I was deeply saddened by this.  Life is precious.  We are not the author of life. 

Shortly after the bill passed the NYS Senate, the New York State Catholic Conference (NYSCC) posted a Statement on their Facebook page lamenting the bill’s passage by the NYS Senate and seeking the governor’s veto.

I immediately shared their statement on my Renewal of Faith Facebook page and St. Mary’s of the Lake/St. Benedict’s Facebook page with the statement, “The battle for the respect of life is not over. I expect the NYS Catholic Conference on Tuesday will issue some guidance on contacting the governor to ask her to veto the bill. For now, please pray for life.”

As soon as the NYSCC issues that guidance, most likely in the form of an action alert, I will update this article with a link to that guidance. 

Again, I am deeply saddened by the NYS Senate vote.  I laid in bed for a while last night wondering if I should have done more to call people to action, contacting their NYS legislators.  When I learned that the NYS Assembly was preparing to vote on the bill, I alerted our parishioners through a flyer I created and put in our churches.  The flyer provided links to the action alert by the NYSCC.  I put the same information on our parish Facebook page and mentioned it at Mass.  I updated that information after the NYS Assembly passed the bill to include information to contact their NYS Senators.  I also have been sharing relevant information on my Renewal of Faith Facebook page.

Now I feel called to do more as we prepare to contact the governor to ask her to veto the bill.  This article is the central part of that “more.”  Our earthly hope now lies in the fact that during her administration, according the NYSCC statement last night, she has worked for the prevention of suicide in general.

If you would like to learn more about why our Catholic Church is against assisted suicide, I invite you to view the video presentation and slides I did on Catholic Pro-Life teaching, Treating Life with Dignity and Love.  Part I offers a general introduction to the dignity of all human life while Part III specifically addresses assisted suicide.  You can also go to https://renewaloffaith.org/category/pro-life-end-of-life/ to see blog articles I have written on Catholic end of life teaching including homilies from past years when it was thought the NYS legislation was going to act to legalize assisted suicide.

Those who are in favor of assisted suicide see it as a means to end suffering.  Jesus could have avoided the suffering He endured in his Passion but He did not.  He endured his Passion to save us from our sins.  He conquered suffering but He did not end suffering.  Suffering has value.  You can read more about this in the article I wrote last week, “Finding Value in Suffering”

Now, I would offer some reflection regarding the bill passed by the NYS Assembly and Senate.  You can read the bill for yourself as passed by the NYS Senate online at https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/bills/2025/S138.

The first flaw I find in the bill is in the name they give it in lines 1-2 of page, the “medical aid in dying act.”  I see it not as aid in dying.  The medicines, if you can call it medicine, used will not aid the person in dying.  It will cause their death. 

Here I look at lines 7-10 on page 12 where the bill directs doctors to list the cause of death on the death certificate as the underlying terminal illness without reference to the assisted suicide medicines.  I see this as ordering doctors to lie about the cause of death.  I acknowledge the underlying terminal illness as contributing to their death but not as the immediate cause of their death.  This, in effect, orders the doctor to bear false witness in direct violation of the Eighth Commandment, “You Shall Not Bear False Witness Against Your Neighbor,” thus violating their religious freedom.

While I remain firmly against assisted suicide, for those who think assisted suicide should be legal, I turn to the lack of safeguards in the bill.

Here I first direct you to a post on the  NYSCC Facebook page dated June 4^th where they share video of NYS Assembly representations who opposed the bill, including some who say they favor assisted suicide but voted against the present bill for its lack of safeguards.  You can view the video at https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1Aj1s5Kutq/.

Now, thankfully, the bill is not without safeguards.  Beginning on line 47 of page 5 and continuing through line 14 on page 6, the bill does call for the attending physician to refer the patient to a mental health professional if they feel the patient lacks decision making capacity.  However, I think more is needed here as I see nothing to ensure the doctor makes this referral.

Likewise, I am grateful for the requirements described beginning in line 18 of page that requires written documentation of the person’s desire to receive assisted suicide.  The bill also requires two witnesses (page 7 line 17 – page 8 line 3).  I remain concerned most especially in the case where a person states at a point in time that they see a day may come where they will choose to use assisted suicide.  They provide the necessary written documentation but do not immediately take the medicine.  Later, they decide to not use medicine but then subsequently become incapacitated and someone else administers the medicine against the person’s will.

Next, lines 19-23 on page 10 have the beginnings of conscientious objection protections for doctors but do not go far enough to ensure a doctor could not be forced or coerced into prescribing medicines for assisted suicide.  Likewise, lines 29-50 on page 10 seem to provide some conscientious objection protections for health care facilities but I am not sure they are explicit enough.  What I do not see is any conscientious objection protections for pharmacists, nurses, or other health care workers to ensure they cannot be forced to participate in assisted suicide in any way.

I am grateful that lines 31-40 on page 11 stipulate that insurance companies cannot suggest to a patient that they take assisted suicide medications as this has happened in the past.  However, I fear the insurance companies will look for a way around this as assisted suicide medications are cheaper than prolonged care.

Lastly, while the current bill requires the person to have a terminal illness with death expected in less than six months (page 3 lines 15-17), there is nothing in the bill that prevents the slippery slope that has followed in countries like the Netherlands and Canada where a person no longer needs to be terminally ill to under assisted suicide.  I hope and pray that Governor Hochul realizes this as she has been firm in her suicide prevention work.

As I conclude, again, I anticipate the NYSCC will issue an action alert and/or other guidance today on contacting the governor to ask her to veto this bill.  As soon as they do, I will update this article to include that and post it on our parish Facebook page and my Renewal of Faith Facebook page.

Update: 6/11/25 – The NYSCC has added an action alert to ask the governor to veto this bill. You can all her at 518-474-8390 or you can find the action alert at https://www.nyscatholic.org/action-center. It will provide you with the means to email her a prepared message or edit it to provide your own message. It literally took me less than two minutes to do this. I used most of the NYSCC prepared message, adding a short comment of my own and a link to this article.

I offer my strongest encouragement and my own personal request for you to contact our governor to ask her to veto this bill.  You may share this article with anyone you wish (in fact, I ask you to please share it) and when you contact the governor, you may use any or all of it in your message to her.  I myself will see if I can include a link to this article in my contact to her.

To make it easier for you to share print copies of this article, I am sharing it as a PDF file below.

Here is a link to a “Statement from Bishop Matano Regarding Physician-Assisted Suicide June 10, 2025.

Please pray for our governor to veto this bill.

Peace,

Fr. Jeff