New York’s New Assisted Suicide Law Has No Real Safeguards

Months ago, New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) announced plans to further embrace the culture of death through assisted suicide. Now, that word has come to fruition. On Friday, the so-called Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD) Act was officially signed into law — making New York the 13th state (plus Washington, D.C.) to legalize such legislation.

According to Hochul — echoing many in the pro-euthanasia camp — this is about “freedom,” “autonomy,” and “compassion.” The rules seem simple: MAiD “allows” terminally-ill adults with a prognosis of six months or less to live to request lethal medication to end their lives. The law will take effect as of August 5, 2026, once the state’s Department of Health finalizes regulations.

According to Hochul, the terminally-ill have a “right … to peacefully and comfortably end their lives with dignity.” For those suffering, she further noted her belief that the law is supposed to be about “shortening their death” — as opposed to “shortening their lives.” Others celebrated the legislation as a milestone for love and mercy. Hochul said she “firmly” believes they “made the right decision” in signing assisted suicide into law. Yet even she is aware of how controversial this issue is.

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The governor allegedly negotiated amendments to add what some consider safeguards: a five-day waiting period between prescription and fulfillment, an audio or video recording of the patient’s oral request, mandatory mental health evaluation by a psychologist or psychiatrist, residency restricted to New Yorkers, in-person initial physician assessments (with limited exceptions), bans on financially interested witnesses or interpreters, opt-out provisions for religious hospice providers, and professional misconduct penalties for violations.

And yet, the reality is that these measures are no safeguards at all but serve to do nothing more than create a false sense of security. Most euthanasia-related legislation has been heavily scrutinized for having many loopholes. Whether it’s Canada, Switzerland, or the U.S., assisted suicide legislation is almost always branded as a “considerate” option for those who are suffering — the terminally-ill, for example. But once euthanasia is given an inch, it takes a mile — or two, or three. It doesn’t stop at the terminally-ill, but rapidly spreads to nearly anyone who wants it — or to anyone who thinks they do.

It becomes a scapegoat not necessarily for those suffering in a medicinal sense but for anyone’s version of suffering — the lonely, the lost, the less than fortunate. Suddenly, what is supposedly meant to bring relief becomes nothing more than a means of glossing over any route to true healing and lasting solutions. In fact, safeguards really can’t exist at all in an act that is meant to bring about death for anyone who claims to have been diagnosed with no more will to live. Because if that’s all it takes, then who are you to restrict someone from choosing the option that ends it all?

Recognizing this, Mary Szoch, director of Family Research Council’s Center for Human Dignity, issued a stark warning: “The New York assisted suicide bill is especially terrifying because, unlike every other state’s assisted suicide laws, it includes amendments that take away the ‘there are no safeguards’ argument.” Sure, she added, “there are ‘safeguards’ in this version, but if Americans don’t recognize that no amount of safeguards can stop assisted suicide from violating human dignity, then New York’s law will become the template for national legislation.”

Szoch’s insight cuts to the chase: no checklist of procedural hurdles can change the reality that assisted suicide treats human life as negotiable when pain or decline sets in. It reframes a cry for help as a “right,” shifting society’s response from preserving life to facilitating death. Once normalized — especially under the guise of “safeguards,” “love,” “compassion” — expansion becomes inevitable. Canada has already provided countless examples: starting with terminal cases, MAID now claims one in 20 deaths, reaching into chronic illness, disability, poverty, and even veterans who are offered euthanasia over mental health support. The Netherlands has gone further, approving cases for those simply “tired of living.”

What’s even more disturbing is that the coercion is often subtle, not overt. When a doctor must present “aid in dying” as a legitimate choice, the vulnerable hear an unspoken message: your life is optional, perhaps burdensome. Why is it that we exhaust every resource — hotlines, therapy, community — to prevent suicide in the depressed or despairing young, yet when a terminal diagnosis comes along, it flips the script? Despair doesn’t become dignified just because it’s medicalized. We’re all humans living in a fallen world. Sadly, despair is a part of it. Our lives were never designed to be perfectly smooth sailing on this side of the grave. No, on this side of the grave, we hold fast to the One who is holding us.

Assisted suicide contradicts the unchanging truth that every person bears God’s image (Genesis 1:27), knit together by His hand (Psalm 139:13-16). Suffering is part of a fallen world. But consider those in Scripture: Job endured unimaginable loss yet blessed the Lord (Job 1:21). Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers yet was ultimately blessed immeasurably in Egypt. Each of the disciples, save one, were brutally murdered for professing faith in Christ. But despite all of the suffering, Paul declared that none of it was even worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed to those in the Kingdom of God (Romans 8:18).

The Lord doesn’t call us to muster our own strength — He calls us to lean on His. He calls us to choose life (Deuteronomy 30:19), promising grace sufficient for weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). Real compassion pours into palliative care, pain relief, emotional support, and walking alongside the dying — not prescribing a lethal, irreversible exit.

New York’s law, dressed in procedural protections, risks setting a national precedent. That is, unless we oppose it. If you need more motivation to do so, go ahead and check out Canada. Consider the suicide pods in Switzerland. Look into the so-called medical professionals who openly admit that they “love” helping people die. The moment, which is ever-protruding onto U.S. soil, demands action: urge lawmakers to prioritize life-affirming care, support hospice work, volunteer with the suffering, pray fervently.

Every human life holds sacred value — not because it’s free of pain, but because it belongs to God from beginning to end.

LifeNews Note: Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand, where this originally appeared.

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