WASHINGTON — National Right to Life strongly condemned Kathy Hochul’s signing of New York’s assisted suicide legislation, warning that the law abandons suicide prevention, endangers people with disabilities, and embeds systemic discrimination into state policy.

“Assisted suicide is suicide, no matter how its advocates try to rebrand it,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “New York has chosen to redefine suicide as a medical treatment, sending a chilling message to people who are sick, disabled, or struggling that their lives are less worth protecting.” 

Proponents claim assisted suicide is restricted to those near death and in unbearable pain. In reality, so-called “terminal” prognoses are frequently wrong, and eligibility standards are elastic. In states like Oregon, pain is not among the top reasons people seek assisted suicide. Instead, the leading motivations are fear of dependency, loss of autonomy, and not wanting to live with limitations — precisely the experiences shared by millions of people with disabilities.

Presenting assisted suicide as an option distracts from the urgent need to expand access to hospice, palliative care, mental-health services, and family supports — services that affirm life and dignity even in the face of serious illness.

“True compassion does not offer a lethal prescription in place of care,” Tobias stated. “New Yorkers deserve better pain management, better emotional support, and better end-of-life care — not a shortcut to death.” 

Despite years of controversy and opposition from disability advocates, medical professionals, and suicide-prevention experts, the legislation moved forward without a recent full public hearing, even as its consequences are irreversible.

Oregon became the first state, in 1994, to legalize assisted suicide. Since then, twelve states (12) and Washington D.C. have passed similar laws.

Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of affiliates in each of the 50 states, is the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. National Right to Life works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide, and euthanasia.