The State of New York is reportedly pushing to legalize assisted suicide through a new legislation said to be under the review of the Senate and Assembly Health Committees.
As per The Christian Institute, there are several bills that push for assisted suicide through the intake of lethal drugs in the state of New York. The said bills were patterned after Oregon's Death With Dignity Act that was approved in 1997 and regarded as the first of its kind in the United States.
The Oregon law allows patients deemed to have six or less months to live the leeway to be prescribed with lethal drugs for assisted suicide. However, the law has a limit for patients aged 18 years of age and should be "mentally competent" and acting "without coercion" from anyone.
There are currently nine states, excluding the District of Columbia as per The Christian Institute, where assisted suicide is permitted. While there have been a total of 2,895 patients prescribed with lethal drugs since Oregon's Death With Dignity Act became a law. Assisted suicide has increased more than 28% in Oregon for 2020 based on statistics released by the state last February 26, 2021.
The Christian Institute pointed out that assisted suicides actually discourage medical treatment in states where it is legalized. In an October 2019 report, the England-based non-profit organization pointed out that even medical organizations reveal that such assisted deaths "remove choices" from patients based on a report by the National Council on Disability.
"Insurers have denied expensive, life-sustaining medical treatment, but offered to subsidize lethal drugs, potentially leading patients to hasten their own deaths," the National Council on Disability Chairman Neil Romano said.
"Assisted suicide laws are premised on the notion of additional choice for people at the end of their lives, however in practice, they often remove choices when the low-cost option is ending one's life versus providing treatments to lengthen it or services and supports to improve it," he added.
LifeSite reported in May that more than 60 Democrats from New York's Senate and House of Representatives are sponsoring bills that will legalize euthanasia. The said bills, when approved, will allow patients to administer "lethal injection even without the presence or support of a physician or any other health care professional."
The said bills are Assembly Bill 4321 and Senate Bill 6471, which are primarily sponsored by Representative Amy Paulin and Senator Diane Savino, respectively, and both officially called "Medical Aid In Dying Act."
The bills specify certain requirements for the assisted suicide or euthanasia to take effect such as a written letter by the patient "to end" his or her life that must be accompanied by a "declaration of witnesses" in addition to the age limit for it. It also indicates that unused portions of the lethal injection should be properly disposed of "to the nearest qualified facility."
LifeSite launched a campaign called "Voter Voice" in an attempt to stop the two bills, enticing New Yorkers opposing it to sign up and send emails to state legislators as a petition against it. LifeSite stressed in their petition that such bills normalize the "culture of death rather than life across the United States."
