Once euthanasia or assisted suicide are legal, the death lobby will pressure to expand the law.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, 
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

New York officially instituted their assisted suicide law on August 5 (yesterday). The assisted suicide lobby pressured New York legislators for 10 years before New York finally legalized death by lethal poison.

The assisted suicide lobby will soon begin to lobby New York politicians to expand the law.

Kevin Dias, an assisted suicide lobby leader told Katelyn Cordero in an article published in Politico on August 5 that:

while they were disappointed by additional safeguards added through negotiations — such as the residency requirement and mental health evaluation — his organization has worked closely with the state on the implementation process.

Dias is referring to the fact that the original New York assisted suicide bill: 

• did not have a residency requirement, meaning anyone from anywhere could die by assisted suicide in New York,
• did not have a reflection period, meaning it allowed a same day death,
• did not have a mental health evaluation, meaning, depressed people could die by assisted suicide.

Based on the comments by Kevin Dias the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition expects that the assisted suicide lobby will demand expansions to the assisted suicide law, likely in 2028.

The assisted suicide lobby knows that it is more difficult to legalize assisted suicide than it is to expand the law once it is legal.

In 2019 Oregon passed Bill SB 0579 which expanded the assisted suicide law by giving doctors the right to waive the 15 day waiting period when a person is considered near to death.

In 2021 California passed Bill SB 380 which expanded the assisted suicide law by reducing the waiting period from 15 days to 48 hours. It forced doctors who oppose assisted suicide to be complicit in the act and it forced all medical institutions to post their policy on assisted suicide. 

In March 2022 a group of California doctors launched a court case designed to protect the conscience rights of medical professionals. In September 2022 US District Judge Fernando Aenlle-Rocha ruled that the California End of Life Options Act that was amended by Bill SB 380, violated First Amendment rights of doctors by requiring them to participate in assisted suicide.

In 2022 Vermont expanded their assisted suicide law by removing the 48 hour waiting period, (allowing same day death), removing the requirement that examinations be done in person, (allowing approvals by telehealth), and extending legal immunity to anyone who participates in the act.

In 2023 Washington State expanded their assisted suicide law by allowing physician assistants and advanced practice registered nurses to approve and prescribe lethal poison, reducing the waiting period to 7 days and forcing healthcare institutions and hospices to post their assisted suicide policies.

In 2023 Hawaii expanded their assisted suicide law by reducing the waiting period from 20 days to 5 days, it allows the waiting period to be waived if the person is considered near to death and it allows advanced practice registered nurses to approve and prescribe lethal poison.

In 2023 Oregon expanded their assisted suicide law by passing House Bill 2279 which removed their state assisted suicide residency requirement.

In 2023 Vermont also expanded their assisted suicide law by passing Senate Bill 26 which removed their state assisted suicide residency requirement.

Oregon and Vermont removed their assisted suicide residency requirements in response to assisted suicide lobby legal challenges. By removing the state residency requirement assisted suicide has become a national issue since anyone in America can die by assisted suicide in Oregon and Vermont.

In 2024 Colorado passed Senate Bill 24-068 which allowed advanced practice registered nurses to approve and prescribe assisted suicide, reducing the waiting period from 15 days to 7 days, and allowing the doctor or advanced practise registered nurse to waive the waiting period if the person is deemed to be near to death (same day death).

In 2025 Maine passed bill LD613 which expanded the state assisted suicide law by reducing the waiting period from 15 days to 5 days.

Euthanasia expansions also happened in Canada, where euthanasia and assisted suicide were legalized in June 2016 (Bill C-14) and then expanded with Bill C-7 in March 2021. Bill C-7 removed the terminal illness requirement, removed the 10-day reflection period, allowed euthanasia for incompetent people who were previously approved and extended euthanasia to mental illness alone. The implantation of euthanasia for mental illness alone has been delayed until March 2027.

Groups that support euthanasia will state that Bill C-7 was based on the Truchon court decision in Quebec, but Bill C-7 expanded the law further than Truchon required. 

Expansion occurs for many reasons

When  examining the expansions of assisted suicide laws in America we recognize several key themes. There is the removal of waiting periods, allowing non-physicians to do the act, and allowing non-residents to die by assisted suicide. 

Assisted suicide laws have also been expanded by redefining the language of the law.

In December 2017, Fabian Stahle, a Swedish researcher asked the Oregon Health Authority how they define terminal illness. Stahle learned that the Oregon Health Authority defined the six month terminal illness prognosis as including someone who may have a six month prognosis even if they reject effective medical treatment. This was clearly an expansion of the law based on redefining the language of the law. 

Once assisted suicide is legal, restrictions on the law are seen as discriminatory. 

Before assisted suicide is legal, everyone is equal under the law. Everyone is equally protected from being killed or equally protected from suicide. 

 

Once legal, people who do not "qualify" under the assisted suicide law will claim that the current law lacks equality and is discriminatory because it doesn't equally apply to all people. 

 

We oppose killing people. 

We don’t just oppose killing people who are terminally or chronically ill, but we oppose killing people. 

We always support caring for people and never support abandoning them to death.

Reflecting on the legalization of assisted suicide in New York.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Today (August 5) is the day that New York state implements their assisted suicide law. 

This is a day of great sadness as we recognize the reality of the decision to legalize assisted suicide and we reflect on the fact that many lives will be ended by this decision.

Assisted suicide laws give doctors (in some states, (also) physician assistants and nurses) the right in law to be directly involved with causing the death of their patients and they provide total legal coverage for the medical staff who are willing to participate, even when the death that they facilitated was questionable.

Assisted suicide is sold to the culture as a form of freedom, choice and autonomy whereas the assisted suicide law actually gives doctors, the right in law, to agree that a persons life is not worth living and to prescribe lethal poison that will kill that person.

There is a misunderstanding about the nature of the assisted suicide act. Assisted suicide is sold as a self-killing, whereas the law is concerned about the rules that the doctor must follow in order to prescribe the lethal poison. Assisted suicide deaths are not always quick, peaceful and painless.

Further to that, there will be "legally" inappropriate deaths. A key problem with identifying deaths that are considered "outside" the parameters of the law is that one of the key witnesses is dead and the other key witness approved the death.

Assisted suicide changes the nature of medical treatment and care. One reason is that killing when sold as a treatment for medical conditions, normalizes killing and justifies it as a "medical option." Another reason is that some physicians will make assisted suicide a central part of their medical practice. These physicians will sometimes become cavalier with assisted suicide leading to a practical expansion of the law.

I oppose killing people. This is not just a statement but rather an understanding of our common human experience. Human persons are not just physical beings but rather we have an intertwined psychological and emotional nature. Offering death, at a person's lowest time, is not about autonomy but rather abandonment. Abandoning a person to death.

Cultural safety requires it's citizens and especially it's medical care-givers to be committed to caring and never killing. 

Giving doctors the right in law to kill creates a social inequality that becomes a threat to the lives of many in their time of need.

New York Sisters obtain temporary order protecting them from participating in assisted suicide

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

I have good news. 

The Beckett Fund reported that a temporary order was obtained preventing the state of New York from forcing Catholic Sisters and Catholic healthcare from participating in the assisted suicide law while the federal lawsuit by Catholic healthcare proceeds in the court. 

The New York assisted suicide law will come into effect on August 5

Article: Catholic sisters challenge New York state assisted suicide law (Link).

The lawsuit was filed on July 16 to overturn the New York assisted suicide law based on the language in the law that, among other things, requires Catholic healthcare to inform patients that they can have assisted suicide, requires them to refer patients who request assisted suicide and the law conflicts with the federal law that prohibits federal funding for assisted suicide.

The temporary order was agreed to by US District Court Judge Anne M. Nardacci enabling Catholic healthcare to not participate in assisted suicide until a court decision is made in the full case. The order states that Catholic healthcare is temporarily protected from:

• providing information and counseling about assisted suicide,
• establishing policies and procedures about how counseling for assisted suicide will be done,
• arranging for other physicians or nurse practitioners who will provide information about counseling about assisted suicide or refering patients to other physicians or nurse practitioners who are willing to assist suicide,
• documenting requests for assisted suicide,
• assessing, evaluating or otherwise assisting patients in being qualified for assisted suicide,
• permiting assisted suicide or refering for assisted suicide.

The Judge assigned a time-line for the State of New York if they decide to appeal the emergency motion.

This is a temporary order until the court hears the full case. EPC believes that the court needs to recognize the conscience rights of care-givers and strike down the New York assisted suicide law based on federal assisted suicide funding restrictions.

For those who believe that assisted suicide is a choice, then they should also acknowledge the choice of others to not participate in assisted suicide. Participation is wider than the actual act of prescribing or directly assisting the suicide.

Further to that, assisted suicide is not about "autonomy" since it requires the direct involvement of medical professionals who are complicit with a person's suicide.

Medical professionals should never be involved with killing or assisting suicides since it changes the nature of care. For ethical healthcare to survive, there must be a commitment to always care and never kill.

More articles on this topic:

• Catholic sisters challenge New York state assisted suicide law (Link).
• New York is opening a pandora's box with assisted suicide (Link).
• New York Governor to sign assisted suicide bill (Link).

Catholic Sisters challenge New York state assisted suicide law.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Madeleine Long reported in The Free Press on July 17, 2026 that several orders of Catholic sisters are challenging the New York assisted suicide law. This law requires the sisters to inform their patients that they can have assisted suicide and the New York law conflicts with the federal law which prohibits federal funding for assisted suicide.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed the assisted suicide bill into law in February which will take effect on August 5, 2026.

Long reported that:

A coalition of Catholic healthcare providers filed suit in federal court in Albany on Friday, arguing that New York’s new assisted dying law would force them to choose between their faith and their ability to provide care for the sick, the elderly, and the dying.

The lawsuit, filed in the Northern District of New York, names 13 plaintiffs, including multiple congregations of nuns such as the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, and the Little Sisters of the Poor. The Diocese of Rockville Centre and Catholic Health, a network of five Long Island hospitals, are also named.

Long explains how the law contravenes the federal law prohibiting funding for assisted suicide:

The law works in tandem with an existing New York statute, the Palliative Care Information Act, which requires doctors and nurse practitioners to inform terminally ill patients of all their end-of-life options. Now that assisted dying is one of them, medical professionals must proactively raise it with patients—whether or not the patient asks.Catholic healthcare has always refused to participate in assisting suicides.

Long further explains that:

The lawsuit asks the court to declare the Medical Aid in Dying Act unconstitutional and block its enforcement before it takes effect next month. At its core, the complaint argues the law violates the First Amendment by compelling doctors and nurses at religious facilities to counsel patients about assisted dying and by interfering with the Church’s ability to govern its own healthcare institutions. It also states that the law conflicts with federal statutes prohibiting the use of federal healthcare funds for assisted dying—a claim that applies to several plaintiffs who receive Medicare and Medicaid funding.

Noncompliance carries significant consequences, according to the complaint, including civil penalties of up to $2,000 per violation, potential loss of operating licenses, and criminal liability resulting in up to a year in prison for willful violations.

New York’s law includes a provision permitting religious facilities to opt out of prescribing or administering lethal drugs on their premises. But according to the sisters’ lawyers, the opt-out is among the narrowest in the nation, narrower than similar laws in California, Oregon, and Washington, where religious providers can opt out of all participation if their faith requires it.It is important to note that Catholic healthcare is challenging their obligation to participate in assisting a suicide as well as they are challenging the use of federal money for assisting a suicide.

EPC believes that the court should recognize the conscience rights of care-givers and strike down the law based on federal assisted suicide funding restrictions.

For those who believe that assisted suicide is a choice, then they should also acknowledge the choice of others to not participate in assisted suicide. Participation is wider than the actual act of prescribing or directly assisting the suicide.

Further to that, assisted suicide is not about "autonomy" since it requires the direct involvement of medical professionals who are complicit with a person's suicide.

Medical professionals should never be involved with killing or assisting suicides since it changes the nature of care. For ethical healthcare to survive, there must be a commitment to always care and never kill.

More articles on this topic:

• New York is opening a pandora's box with assisted suicide (Link). 
• New York Governor to sign assisted suicide bill (Link).

Lawsuits filed to overturn New York and Illinois assisted suicide laws

The Institute for Patients' Rights joined two federal lawsuits, one in New York and one in Illinois, with a coalition of national and state-based disability and patient advocacy organizations. For both states, Not Dead Yet, United Spinal Association, and the National Council on Independent Living, are organizational plaintiffs. 

For New York, other organizational plaintiffs include: Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled, Independent Living Center of the Hudson Valley, Regional Center for Independent Living, and Self-Initiated Living Options, Inc. Two individuals are named plaintiffs as well, Anita Cameron and Jose Hernandez.

In Illinois, the individual plaintiffs are Ebony Payne, Pam Heavens, and Nooshig Luz Salvador. Joining them are additional organizational plaintiffs: Progress Center for Independent Living, and Chicago ADAPT.

Both lawsuits state assisted suicide law violates core protections under the U.S. Constitution and federal civil rights laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. 

The suit argues that the assisted suicide statutes in New York and in Illinois will single out people with disabilities and other vulnerable individuals, placing them at risk of premature death rather than ensuring access to care, support and suicide prevention services.

“Assisted suicide laws in New York and Illinois create a separate and unequal system in which people with life-threatening disabilities are offered death instead of the support programs everyone else gets,” said Matt Vallière, president/executive director of plaintiff organization Institute for Patients' Rights. “These legal actions are about affirming that every person has inestimable value and dignity, regardless of age, disability, or prognosis, and ensuring that no one is treated as disposable under the law.” 

José Hernández, an individual plaintiff for New York, a person with disabilities, and a member of plaintiff organization United Spinal Association, spoke about how America once cared about preserving lives and prioritizing treatment to extend life. His mother was diagnosed with Stage IV ovarian cancer when she was 28 years old and he was only eight. Doctors estimated she would live for only six months.

“At the time, assisted suicide was not available, and thankfully so,” Hernández said. “Doctors did everything they could, her insurance paid for life-saving treatment, and my mother survived for 13 years. If she had chosen to end her life, I would have missed out on 13 years of goodnight kisses, home-cooked meals, and the opportunity to be raised by a mother who made me the strong man I am today.”

Representing the Illinois plaintiffs, Ebony Payne said, “I joined the lawsuit because of personal experiences that brought me really close to death and the people who I leaned on to do the right thing became the people to do the opposite. The Illinois law is a trainwreck and is not what you expect from people who are obligated to do no harm.”

These are the 4th and 5th lawsuits in the federal court system. These lawsuits put us one step closer to the Supreme Court and total victory over a eugenic public policy that undermines the inestimable value and dignity of each one of us. Onward and upward!

New York is opening a "pandora's box" with assisted suicide.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Rita Busby, Debbie Fisher

Chadwick Moore published a warning to New Yorkers in the New York Post on April 8, 2026 referring to the legalization of assisted suicide as opening a pandora's box. The law will come into effect in August.

Moore interviewed several Canadians about their experience with assisted death. Canada will soon surpass 100,000 assisted deaths in less than 10 years of killing.

Debbie Fisher explained how her mom was almost killed by euthanasia in Canada. Moore writes:

The Canadian’s elderly mother, Rita Busby, came dangerously close to being euthanized over a single sentence.

Her mom, who was active and independent in spite of her 93 years, ended up in the hospital after accidentally overdosing on a drug she was prescribed. Drowsy and not thinking straight, Busby had made an offhand comment to one of the nurses that she “wanted to die.” Hospital workers took her at her word.

Rita Busby at 93.

Moore explains that a psychologist told Fisher that they were planning to euthanize her mom, a woman who was a devout Catholic. Fisher told Moore:

“I was terrified. I couldn’t believe what was happening. They talked to me like I was putting a dog down,” Fisher, 71, told The Post from her home in Ontario, Canada.

But Busby had also signed a Power of Attorney for Personal Care document that included statements opposing euthanasia and assisted suicide. Moore writes:

“My mom wanted to die, she didn’t want to be killed!” Fisher said. “If I hadn’t been there, and she hadn’t signed over Power of Attorney, who knows what would have happened”

“People don’t understand there’s a lot of things that go on behind the scenes [in hospitals] when there’s no one there to protect them,” said Fisher.

Moore completes the story by explaining that Busby, lived another 6 months and during that time she continued to go bowling and attend baseball games. She also attended a family reunion and mended family relationships before she died a natural death.

Heather Hancock

Moore interviewed Heather Hancock (58) who lives with cerebral palsy. Heather gave Moore a warning for New York:

“You just opened Pandora’s Box and the slippery slope will get very steep very fast,”

“This is eugenics and this is genocide against the [disadvantaged],” she claims.

Hancock has been pressured into "requesting" euthanasia several times. Moore explains:

During one hospital visit, “the nurse on my ward looked at me and said, ‘You really should consider MAiD. You’re not living. You’re just existing,” she recalled to The Post.

She now carries a laminated “do not euthanize” card wherever she goes.

Hancock warns New Yorkers how legalizing assisted suicide may threaten their lives.

“Keep your ears and eyes open, especially if you have a disability or mental illness or are in any way considered a disadvantaged or non-contributing member of society. Those are the people that are targeted,” she said.

“[PAS] is an effective way to get rid of those they deem draining the healthcare system. It’s not compassionate.”

Alex Schadenberg, (myself) the Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition told Moore that the difference between euthanasia and assisted suicide is how it is carried out. With euthanasia the medical professional injects the patient (homicide) whereas with assisted suicide the medical professional prescribes the same lethal poison but the person is required to self-ingest. Moore writes:

So far, no state has legalized euthanasia — the form of assisted suicide where a medical professional administers the lethal agent rather than being prescribed a deadly drug the patient takes on their own.

“It (euthanasia) makes it feel more like a medical act. People feel more obligated to it because, of course, the doctor has to schedule it,” Alex Schadenberg, executive director of Canada’s Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, an advocacy group, told The Post.

Canada, which has a socialized medical system, will formally legalize euthanasia for mental health as the sole underlying condition in 2027, if legal challenges against the expansion are unsuccessful.

Schadenberg warned New Yorker's about how assisted suicide can be pushed based on medical costs. Moore writes:

“It could be really touchy for someone in New York if they don’t have the gold standard in health insurance and they develop some kind of disability,” said Schadenberg.

“In Canada we have serious funding problems in our healthcare system, hospitals are running deficits. They would never say it to you, but clearly dead people don’t cost money.”

“You’ve had cases of people who are homeless asking to be approved for euthanasia,” he added, which was reported on in 2024.

Moore reported that Canada's general suicide rate has increased by 10.5% since 2021, the same year that Canada expanded it's euthanasia law to include people who are not terminally ill. Moore then pointed to a European study concerning the suicide rate countries that have legalized euthanasia and wrote:

In Europe the numbers are more staggering: suicides increased by 18.5 percent — and raised by nearly 40 percent in women — among nine countries where PAS is permitted, according to a 2022 study.

I responded to Moore by stating:

“[PAS] demystifies the issue of suicide. It takes away the whole concept that suicide is not the right way to go,” said Schadenberg.

Moore then commented on the recent Spanish euthanasia death of Noelia Castillo (25) who became disabled after a failed suicide attempt and then she was approved for euthanasia based on her injuries caused by the suicide attempt. Castillo was known to have significant mental health issues.

In 2021 Canada expanded it's assisted dying law in several ways including eliminating the 10-day waiting period and allowing a same-day death when someone is deemed to be terminally ill (Track 1).

When asked how legal assisted suicide affects the culture I stated:

“It changes medicine,”

“People have to recognize the importance of being there with their loved ones in the hospital. In our culture, there are too many people going through difficult health conditions alone and that actually breeds the death idea.”

Fisher responded to Moore about the affect on culture by stating:

But Fisher said that sends the wrong message to everyone else. “If it’s legal, it must be OK. That’s the mindset they’re in,” she said.

Adding: “My body, my choice and I’m just going to go to sleep and all my problems go away. But the families are left behind.

“It’s like a holocaust. It serves no purpose.”

During the interview with Chadwick Moore I also explained that the number of New York assisted suicide deaths will start slowly, as the medical community will not be used to killing their patients, but once assisted suicide becomes accepted the numbers will grow. Another important factor is that nearly every jurisdiction that has legalized euthanasia and assisted suicide has later expanded their law.

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition supports a culture that cares for its citizens, and never kills.

Amazing News: Virginia assisted suicide bill dies in Committee.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

I have amazing news. The Virginia assisted suicide bill died on February 5 (today) by a vote of 8 to 7 in the Virginia Senate Committee on Education and Health.

Congratulations to everyone who worked with the coalition and/or contacted their state representatives. Lives have been saved by the defeat of this bill.

Legalizing assisted suicide in Virginia, which is to poison people to death, has been a goal of the assisted suicide lobby for many years.

In 2025, Delaware, Illinois and New York passed assisted suicide bills. New York Governor Kathy Hochul stated that she would not sign the New York bill until amendments were made. 

The amendments included a 5 day waiting period, that can be waived if the person is deemed to be near to death, a residency requirement, a mandatory psychiatric evaluation and a recorded assisted suicide request.

Sadly the amendment bill passed in both of the New York State Houses on February 4 and Governor Hochul is expected to sign the bill on February 6.

New Yorkers received a dubious holiday gift this year.

"New Yorker Governor to sign assisted suicide bill."

Alex Schadenberg

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Article: New York Governor will sign assisted suicide bill (Link).

Bria Sandford Ramos wrote an excellent article that was published by - The Dispatch on December 23, 2025 titled: Death Comes For New York State.

Sandford Ramos explains:

In a press conference, Hochul said signing the bill was “one of the toughest decisions [she’s] ever made as governor,” acknowledging the concerns of many constituents about the effect the bill could have on the most vulnerable. As originally written, the bill would have made New York’s assisted suicide law one of the most permissive in the country, with no waiting period between request and access to lethal drugs, no required screening for depression, and minimal reporting requirements. Hochul’s signature is conditional upon the passage of amendments designed to tighten requirements and prevent abuse. But even with guardrails, the decision to sanction deliberate self-killing and legalize a procedure that the American Medical Association this summer called “fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as a healer,” is a watershed moment.

Sharon Shapiro-Lacks

Sharon Shapiro-Lacks, a board member for the Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled, who is also a person with a disability told Sandford Ramos in an interview that:

But mercy is not what many people see in physician-assisted suicide. “She really, really did not understand where the disability community was coming from,”... Kathy Hochul could not get that this is not a religious issue, that we were objecting to the systemic issue that doctors would be making the call as to who has a rational cause to want to end their life prematurely.”

Shapiro-Lacks further stated:

While severe pain is often used as a reason to legalize assisted suicide—and is indeed one reason some patients seek it—many requests for lethal doses also come from those who fear loss of independence. Indeed, what many in the disabled community fear is a world where a loss of autonomy is seen as a valid reason to die.

 Shapiro-Lacks, who has been fighting for disability rights for more than 40 years continued:

 “People are more scared of losing their capacities more than of the pain,” ... “Throughout my life, I’ve been told, ‘Oh my, you’re remarkable, I could never live like that. If I had to be in a wheelchair, I don’t know what I would do.’ And that always bothered me, because that kind of inspiration is a backhanded compliment. What it actually says is, ‘I wouldn’t live if I were you.’”

The reality is that legalizing assisted suicide gives medical professionals the right in law to prescribe a lethal poison cocktail to cause your death. No one should be given the right in law to kill others. 

Assisted suicide directly affects people in their time of greatest need, when they are most vulnerable to the suggestion of death as a solution to difficult conditions.

Finally, legalizing assisted suicide does not end the debate. Once assisted suicide is legal, the assisted suicide lobby will lobby or launch court cases to expand the law. The original assisted suicide bill is designed to pass in the legislature, once passed incremental extensions will follow.

New York Governor to Sign Assisted suicide bill

This article was published by National Review online on December 17, 2025.

Wesley Smith

By Wesley J Smith

To the surprise of absolutely no one, New York Governor Hochul has said that in January, after some minor changes are added, she will sign the bill legalizing assisted suicide. From the Spectrum News 1 story:

Hochul said the new amended bill will include additional safeguards, or “guardrails,” to protect family members, caregivers and doctors and ensure that vulnerable populations are not pressured or misled.

Of course, these “guardrail” protections–such as they are–will come under sustained assault once the law goes into effect as “barriers” to a good death. They are unlikely to last for very long.

Governor Kathy Hochul

But let’s take a look at some of the supposed improved protections:

A mandatory waiting period of five days between when a prescription is written and filled.

Assisted suicide laws used to require a 15-day waiting period, so you can see the liberalization started even before the bill was signed.

An oral request for medical aid in dying must be recorded by video or audio.

Not much different than signing a form.

A mandatory mental health evaluation by a psychologist or psychiatrist.

These exams are likely to be cursory and probably won’t stop terminally ill people with depression from suicide, nor those with other mental illnesses, as most suicide facilitation laws only require that the suicidal patient be “capable,” that is, have the ability to make and communicate decisions. Depressed and mentally ill people are often quite “capable.”

Limiting access to New York residents.

This is an improvement, such as it is. But remember, one can become a New York resident quite easily, within days, actually.

Requiring that the initial physician evaluation be in person.

Believe it or not, some states allow virtual assisted suicide examinations. This is better, for what it is worth.

Allowing religiously-oriented home hospice providers to opt out of offering medical aid in dying.

The devil will be in the details here. And conscience rights shouldn’t be limited to religiously oriented facilities, as assisted suicide is a direct violation of the hospice philosophy of care — which includes suicide prevention — a potential protection the governor did not insist upon.

Extending the effective date to six months after signing to allow the Department of Health and healthcare facilities to implement regulations and train staff.

Continuing “medical” education on making patients dead. This is the state to which the profession has descended from the days when the Hippocratic Oath held sway.

The sponsor of the bill justified radically changing the ethics of medicine in New York with a sophistic comment:

“Since we first introduced this legislation nine years ago, I have consistently said this bill is not about ending life, it’s about shortening death,” he said.

Dying isn’t dead; it is a sometimes very difficult stage of living. We should provide people with the care they need so that they do not want immediate death rather than abandoning them to poison pills.

Hochul approached the issue as if religion were the only reason to oppose assisted suicide.

In an opinion piece published in the Albany Times Union, Hochul acknowledged that her decision may be rejected by the Catholic Church but said her own beliefs and reflection guided her. “I was taught that God is merciful and compassionate, and so must we be. This includes permitting a merciful option to those facing the unimaginable and searching for comfort in their final months in this life,” she wrote.

But the AMA opposes assisted suicide, and it isn’t religious (or conservative). Disability rights activists have been as vociferous in their opposition as the Catholic Church–and they are generally secular in their outlook and liberal in their politics.

So why the fuss among this cadre? They know that people with disabilities are the real targets of this movement, that once assisted suicide becomes normalized, the categories of killable people will expand well beyond the terminally ill.

Soon, about half the country will live in jurisdictions that allow doctors to prescribe poison pills to patients. That’s awful, but it is what many in this country want.

Ah well. Remember the old bromide, “Be careful what you ask for . . .”

Assisted suicide was legalized in three US states in 2025. Are you concerned?

Alex Schadenberg

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, 

Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

In 2025, assisted suicide was legalized in Delaware, Illinois and New York. This means that there are now 13 US states plus Washington DC that permit assisted suicide. The 13 states include California, Illinois and New York, three of the six most populated states in America.

This is tragic and will result in many early deaths and will lead to the further medical abandonment of people in need.

Previous to this year, the last state that legalized assisted suicide was New Mexico in 2021.

Are you concerned? I am concerned.

I watched the recent online US assisted suicide lobby political meeting. During the meeting the assisted suicide lobby outlined that, in 2026, there will be at least 18 states with bills to legalize assisted suicide. 

We are very concerning with some of the listed states which included: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada and Virginia. There are other states that the assisted suicide lobby are focusing on that are less likely to legalize assisted suicide in 2026 including (but not limited to) Arizona and Florida.

Our allies have been very successful in the past few years but the issue seems to be changing How are we to respond?

Let's look at the most recent successful campaign. 

The Slovenian people voted on an assisted suicide referendum on Sunday, November 23, 2025 and voted to overturn the assisted suicide bill that was passed in the Slovenian legislature in July 2025. More than 53.5% of the voters rejected the assisted suicide law.

This was a great victory, that was accomplished by a small group of committed citizens who stuck to their talking points. They achieved the victory for people who are sick, people with disabilities and pensioners against all odds, as they were up against the government and a well funded death lobby.

Slovenia is not the United States, but the principles in the successful campaign will transport to North America.

They weren't afraid to call it what it is. They used the term poisoning. Assisted suicide is to provide a lethal concoction to poison a person to death. 

The never used the language of the other side. The other side continuously lied about what the assisted suicide law said or what assisted suicide is. The campaign focused on telling the truth and challenging the lies.

They called assisted suicide, health care reform. Most jurisdictions require health care reform to enable a more equitable provision of care. Assisted suicide poisons a person to death. Dead people don't need health care.

The called assisted suicide pension reform. Slovenia, like most jurisdictions, invest a significant portion of their budget into the pension system. Assisted suicide poisons a person to death. Dead people don't collect pensions.

Proper medical care. The other side focused on suffering. The campaign opposing assisted suicide talked about proper care, and explained that assisted suicide forces people, who cannot attain proper medical care, to be poisoned to death.

The Slovenian campaign was more aggressive than most campaigns, but they won even though they were massively out-spent.

The take-away from the Slovenian referendum is that people innately oppose killing people, but you must be willing to state what assisted suicide is. The Slovenians built their campaign on a few key talking points and stuck to them. Hiding behind nice language or presenting the issue in a way that seems more socially acceptable avoids the reality that assisted suicide is about killing people by poison.

I am not afraid to say that I oppose killing people.

Sad news: New York Governor will sign the assisted suicide bill.

The assisted suicide lobby are already lobbing for expansions of the law.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director,
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

I have bad but possibly not unexpected news.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul wrote an article that was published in the Albany Times Union explaining that she will sign the New York assisted suicide bill. When Bill A136/S138 is signed it will make New York the 13th state to legalize assisted suicide. Legalizing assisted suicide gives medical professionals the right to be involved with poisoning their patients to death.

Governor Kathy Hochul

Jimmy Vielkind reported for the Gothamist that:

The Democratic governor wrote Wednesday in the Albany Times Union that she’s approving the legislation after state lawmakers agreed to enact additional safeguards. They include residency restrictions, a five-day waiting period, and a requirement that patients record their oral request to end their lives.

Vielkind reported for the Gothamist on December 3 that Hochul was negotiating amendments to the bill with the sponsors of the assisted suicide bill.

After Hochul signs the bill, the sponsors will have to introduce a bill in the new year to amend the legislation based on the agreement with Governor Hochul.

 

Mandi Zucker, the executive director of End of Life Choices New York stated in a letter to supporters that:

We will also continue to advocate for changes to the law once enacted that will make the option of medical aid in dying more accessible to everyone.

Once assisted suicide is legal, the assisted suicide lobby will lobby or launch court cases to expand the law. The original assisted suicide bill is designed to pass in the legislature, once passed incremental extensions will follow.

New York Governor Hochul seeks changes to assisted suicide bill.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Governor Kathy Hochul

In June, 2025 the New York State Senate approved assisted suicide Bill A136/S138 that was approved by the State Assembly in April.

We were wondering what was happening to the New York assisted suicide bill since the bill had not yet reached Governor Hochul for signing.

An article by Jimmy Vielkind that was published by the Gothamist on December 3 is reporting that Governor Hochul is negotiating with the sponsors of the assisted suicide bill to amend the bill. According to Vielkind:

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul wants to add a requirement that people videotape their requests for physician-assisted deaths, one of several conditions she’s put forward to sign the hotly debated Medical Aid in Dying Act.

The Democratic governor proposed the amendments to the Legislature late last month, according to two people briefed on the negotiations but not authorized to speak publicly about them. Talks are ongoing, the people said.

Hochul is seeking a waiting period and to restrict the bill to New York residents. Vielkind wrote:

Hochul is also pushing to create a seven-day waiting period for terminally ill patients who seek life-ending drugs from physicians. Another proposed provision would require all patients who ask doctors to help end their lives to undergo a mental health evaluation by a psychiatrist.

The governor also wants to restrict the practice to New York residents. And instead of having the bill become law immediately after her signature, she has proposed delaying its effective date by a year.

Vielkind reported that: 

Assemblymember Amy Paulin and state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, the bill’s sponsors, said they couldn’t comment about the bill’s status. Hochul’s spokesperson Kara Cumoletti said the governor “continues to review the legislation.”

Sadly this means that Governor Hochul doesn't recognize that assisted suicide is innately dangerous, discriminatory and wrong.

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition is urging all of its supporters to call New York Governor Kathy Hochul at: 518-474-8390 and urge her to veto the assisted suicide bill.

The assisted suicide lobby is promoting suicide tourism.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

A recent assisted suicide lobby information article asks the question: Can I travel to use Death with Dignity?

As many of our supporters are aware, Oregon and Vermont expanded their assisted suicide laws by removing the assisted suicide law residency requirement and allowing anyone from anywhere to die by assisted suicide in those states.

The recent assisted suicide lobby article is encouraging people from jurisdictions that prohibit assisted suicide to become suicide tourists and die by assisted suicide in Oregon or Vermont.

The article includes links for out-of-state- residents to contact assisted suicide organizations in Oregon and Vermont as well as contact information for a national organization that will provide advice for suicide tourists.

The assisted suicide lobby is promoting suicide tourism to encourage more out-of-state residents to die by assisted suicide in Oregon and Vermont.

In March 2025 I published an article outlining the Oregon assisted suicide statistics. In 2024 in Oregon there were:

• 607 poison prescriptions written, which was up from 433 in 2022.
• 376 reported assisted suicide deaths up by 71 from 305 in 2022.
• 23 of the 376 reported assisted suicide deaths were out-of-state residents.

In the article I explain that there were likely more assisted suicide deaths in Oregon in 2024 based on Oregon doctors often sending in late reports and possible problems with under-reporting.

Since the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) determines the number of assisted suicide deaths based on the reports they receive, therefore, if a doctor does not submit a report to the OHA there is no way to know if there was an out-of state assisted suicide death. As the 2024 OHA report states:

Previously, residence information was collected from the patient’s death certificate. However, for patients who die outside of Oregon and are not Oregon residents, OHA has no way to obtain notice of those deaths.

Since the OHA does not receive a death certificate for a non-resident assisted suicide death, therefore it cannot be determined if there were only 23 out-of-state residents who died by assisted suicide in Oregon in 2024.

It must be noted that the assisted suicide bill that passed in the New York state Assembly and Senate that has not been signed by New York Governor Kathy Hochul, does not have a residency requirement and would allow suicide tourism in New York.

When a person dies without family to take care of a funeral, the state becomes financially responsible for dealing with the body. Suicide tourism would exacerbate this problem.

Contact New York Governor Kathy Hochul (Contact Link) or call her at: 518-474-8390 and urge her to veto the assisted suicide bill and prevent assisted suicide tourism in New York.

New York Governor Hochul must veto the assisted suicide bill.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

New York Governor Hochul

The New York Post published an editorial urging New York's Governor Kathy Hochul to veto the assisted suicide bill.

In June, 2025 the New York State Senate approved assisted suicide Bill A136/S138 that was also approved by the Assembly in April.

The assisted suicide bill has not yet reached Governor Hochul desk, but, when it does she must veto the assisted suicide bill or it will become law.

Contact New York Governor Kathy Hochul (Contact Link) or call her at: 518-474-8390 and urge her to protect people when they are vulnerable by vetoing the assisted suicide bill.

The New York Post editorial stated:

Gov. Kathy Hochul must resist the coming push to sign the so-called Medical Aid in Dying Act: New York doesn’t need to turn doctors into killers.

Fans of “assisted suicide” pretend it’s purely about respecting the wishes of terminally ill patients seeking a dignified exit, but medicalized killing never stops there.

The editorial continues:

The bill awaiting Hochul’s signature, has no waiting period, making same-day suicides entirely possible; it requires no evaluation of a would-be suicides patient’s mental competency.

Damningly, it requires doctors to lie on death certificates by listing the underlying illness as the cause of death, not the ingestion of lethal drugs: Why do that, except to conceal how many people wind up dead because of this law?

The New York Post editorial doesn't state this, but the New York bill also lacks a residency requirement, meaning New York would become a suicide destination.

Contact New York Governor Kathy Hochul (Contact Link) or call her at: 518-474-8390 and urge her to protect people when they are vulnerable by vetoing the assisted suicide bill.

The Hospice News promotes assisted suicide discussions.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

I receive daily updates from the Hospice News. Usually this news service provides updates about funding issues, legislative initiatives or it will report on the business of Hospice. 

The August 13 Hospice News update featured an article written by Holly Vossel titled: Medical Aid in Dying Laws: What Hospices Need to Know?

The article is written in a neutral manner and begins with information. The articles states that 11 US states have legalized assisted suicide, that Delaware is the most recent state to legalize assisted suicide and New York is considering assisted suicide. The article doesn't state that the New York bill passed in the legislature and is held up by Governor Kathy Hochel who is deliberating on whether or not to veto the bill.

Vossel quotes Jessica Empeño, national director for clinical engagement at Compassion & Choices, America's leading assisted suicide lobby group, who states:

Discussions about medically assisted deaths can allow for greater insight into some of the unmet patient needs, such as unmanageable symptoms and the sources of discomfort or distress, Empeño indicated. Even questions related to MAID can “open the door” to valuable conversations about what’s most important to patients and their families, which can improve goal-concordant care delivery, she stated.

From a neutral point of view Empeño is correct that discussions about assisted suicide can provide insight into unmet patient needs, such as unmanageable symptoms and the sources of discomfort or distress, but Empeño is wanting Hospices to discuss assisted suicide with patients to create greater demand for assisted suicide and normalize it as a Hospice "option."

Vossel then quotes Yelena Zatulovsky, vice president of patient experience at AccentCare who states:

“We have policies and protocols in place on how to have conversations related to MAID, and these have evolved a lot,” Zatulovsky said. “For questions related to medical aid in dying, it’s having a solid, very strong process so that our teams feel equipped and empowered to handle any kind of ethical dilemma. Ultimately, everything around these are nuanced cases — the complexities, the challenges, the discord, the stigmatization — is related to conversation. It’s about what their good death looks like.”

Essentially this article urges Hospices to contact Compassion & Choices for training related to discussions about assisted suicide.

The assisted suicide lobby wants to normalize assisted suicide and Compassion & Choices wants to be the go-to group for training people on assisted suicide.

Let's understand this. 

The group that lobbies to legalize assisted suicide is also the group that would provide information to Hospices about assisted suicide.  

Hospices need to say NO to assisted suicide.