OAN Staff Abril Elfi
3:33 PM – Wednesday, April 30, 2025
The New York State Assembly has passed a bill to legalize medically-assisted suicide for terminally ill people.
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On Tuesday, the Medical Aid in Dying Act passed the state Assembly by an 81-67 vote, sending the measure to the state Senate.
If the bill is passed in the Senate, it would allow mentally competent adults, who have been given six months or less to live, the option of being prescribed lethal drugs.
Assemblywoman Amy Paulin (D-N.Y.) introduced the bill following her sister’s death from ovarian cancer.
“I don’t know whether she would have availed herself of this medication if she had the opportunity, but I can tell you that when she died, I wasn’t there,” Paulin, a Democrat, told reporters, according to the New York Post.
“When she died, my other sisters were not there, and that was her wish,” she continued.
Nonetheless, the bill has prompted criticism from Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes (D-N.Y.), who is leading the charge to oppose it.
“I watched my mom die. I watched my daughter die. And I know that for a fact that none of us are getting out of here alive. At some point or the other, we’re all going to go, but I don’t believe there should be a combination of six drugs offered to someone to end their life,” Peoples-Stokes said on the Assembly floor, according to the New York Post.
Additionally, Assemblywoman Mary Beth Walsh (R-N.Y.) opposed the bill as well, saying “each and every life has value.”
“Progress may not be on a straight line and will look different to each of us, but this idea of giving up and dying is not excelsior, ever upward. It’s incredibly sad,” she said, referring to the state motto, “Excelsior” which means “ever upward.”
At this time, it is unclear if Governor Kathy Hochul (D-N.Y.) would sign the bill if it passed the state legislature.
Currently, ten U.S. states have some version of the program. Other countries, including Canada, Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands — have similarly legalized assisted suicide.
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