New York state legislators got one step closer to legalizing assisted suicide for terminally ill people on Tuesday.
The state Assembly, following nearly five hours of emotional debate, passed the controversial “Medical Aid in Dying Act” 81-67, with around 20 Democrats breaking ranks to oppose the controversial measure.
“Each and every life has value,” Assemblywoman Mary Beth Walsh (R-Saratoga), one of the legislation’s opponents, said on the Assembly floor.
“Progress may not be on a straight line and will look different to each of us, but this idea of giving up and dying is not excelsior, ever upward. It’s incredibly sad,” she said, referring to the state motto.
The measure would allow a mentally competent adult that has been given a diagnosis of six months or less to live to be prescribed a lethal cocktail of drugs if they choose.
Some critics like Walsh argue the bill amounts to state-sponsored assisted suicide.
“I watched my mom die. I watched my daughter die. And I know that for a fact that none of us are getting out of here alive. At some point or the other, we’re all going to go, but I don’t believe there should be a combination of six drugs offered to someone to end their life,” Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes (D-Erie) said.
State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins acknowledged that the proposal has gained traction over the last few years and that she would discuss it with members. She did not commit to bringing it up for a floor vote.
“The conversation had begun in earnest last year. So I think we have time to look at it seriously,” she told reporters.
It’s unclear if Gov. Kathy Hochul would support the measure if it passed in both chambers.
The proposal has been slowly gaining support in Albany over the last decade.
But the vote on Tuesday marked the first time the bill has ever passed either house of the Legislature.
Its sponsor, Assemblywoman Amy Paulin (D-Westchester), said she was inspired to push for the legislation after her sister died of ovarian cancer.
“I don’t know whether she would have availed herself of this medication if she had the opportunity, but I can tell you that when she died, I wasn’t there,” Paulin told reporters.
“When she died my other sisters were not there, and that was her wish,” she said.
Other supporters, like Assemblywoman Karines Reyes (D-Bronx), a registered nurse, said the bill would allow people to die with dignity.
“If you don’t believe in it, then don’t avail yourself of that choice, but I think it is inhumane for us to tell people that we are forcing them to continue their suffering,” Reyes said.
The bill is vehemently opposed by religious groups including the Catholic Church, as well as disability rights advocates.
“It’s time to let this bill die a natural death,” Robert Bellafiore, a spokesperson for the New York State Catholic Conference, wrote in a statement.
“New York State should instead strengthen palliative care, improve health care services and counseling for people in crisis and show America what real compassion looks like,” he said.
Ten US states currently have some version of the program, as does Canada.
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