Governor Hochul, Sign the Medical Aid in Dying Act into Law — for All New Yorkers

With historic votes from the state Senate and Assembly, it’s now up to Governor Kathy Hochul to sign the Medical Aid in Dying Act into law.

This extraordinary piece of legislation is about love and joy, and providing terminally ill New Yorkers with the freedom and the choice to live their last months, hours, and minutes to the fullest. It’s about giving people the ability to die the way they lived — consistent with their own faiths, their own values, their own beliefs, and on their own terms. No one should have to watch a family member, friend, or neighbor suffer in their final days.

Just ask Iris Dudman, who’s life was turned upside down by a fatal glioblastoma diagnosis: “My feeling is you get to decide for yourself what your end is going to be. And if you want an exit ramp that’s peaceful, then it should be your right to do that.”

More than 70% of New Yorkers support medical aid in dying — including majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents, upstaters and downstaters, and voters from across the religious and racial spectrum of New York – and the Legislature listened. The Medical Aid in Dying Act has also garnered very strong support from doctors, lawyers, nurses, psychiatrists, and  more than 60 statewide and regional organizations.

We hope that Governor Hochul will lead with love and reaffirm her commitment to providing New Yorkers with bodily autonomy from the beginning of life to the end.

Governor Hochul, you have proved yourself to be a courageous leader who stands up for New Yorkers’ rights to make decisions about their own bodies, in conjunction with their loved ones and medical professionals. Let’s extend that right to terminally ill New Yorkers. Please sign the Medical Aid in Dying Act to honor those who sought this option and died suffering while waiting for it. And please sign it swiftly, so that not one more New Yorker has to suffer needlessly at the end of their lives.

 

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