Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York (United States), is asking state legislators to oppose A bill that would legalize voluntary euthanasiasometimes known as suicide assisted by a doctor.
In a opinion article published on the Wall Street JournalDolan wrote that legislators should strengthen efforts to “prevent” suicide deaths instead of establishing a legal method to end one’s life.
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Dolan related an experience in which he saw a man on the George Washington bridge that “threatened to jump”, saying that those present prayed for him and rescuers tried to “convince him to return to a safe place.”
“We all join in favor of an attracted man determined to commit suicide,” he wrote. “This is when someone is thinking about taking their lives.”
Dolan said that the Archdiocese directs programs in their schools to help students who could be considering suicide and that the state “spends millions” of dollars in suicide prevention efforts and has reinforced mental health investments under the management of Kathy Hochul, governor of the state of New York.
“Therefore, I am more than confused, I am stunned, when I read that New York legislators are about to legalize suicide; not jumping from a bridge, but through a poisonous cocktail easily provided by doctors and pharmacists,” added the cardinal.
“I can’t help shaking my head disbelief at the disparity in official responses,” he wrote. “Our government will mobilize all its resources to save the life of a hopeless and discouraged man. However, it can conclude that some lives are not worth being lived – perhaps due to a serious or disability disease – and we will deliver to those women and men discouraged a symbolic loaded weapon and we will tell you that forward.”
The proposed legislation was approved in the state lower house by 81-67 last month, with the support of the majority of the Democrats and a strong opposition of the Republican minority. More than 20 Democrats joined Republicans in the opposition to the project. Now the project is in the Senate, where a certain hesitation within the Democratic Party is delaying the vote.
The leader of the majority in the state Senate, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, said two weeks ago that “more people have joined in the Senate than in recent years” and that if the proposal obtains the support of the majority of the body, “I will certainly take it to the plenary,” According to politician.
In 10 states and in Washington DC, euthanasia is legal in limited circumstances. Most of those states legalized the practice in the last decade. Euthanasia remains illegal in most of the country.
According to New York’s proposal, euthanasia would only be legal for terminal diseases, but Dollan pointed out in his article that “many controllable diseases can become terminal if they are not treated.”
“In a podcast Recent, the promoter of the Assembly admitted that diabetics could be eligible if they stop taking insulin, making their condition ‘terminal’ by definition, “wrote the cardinal.
He warned that, although the law proposed in New York would have some limits, the defenders of euthanasia in the states where it is already legal “continue to press to expand it.” He also pointed out the medical assistance program to die (MAID) in Canada, which “initially looked a lot like the New York bill”, but since then it has expanded greatly.
When Maid first promulgated in Canada in 2016, a person needed to be in the terminal phase to qualify, but in 2021 the country expanded eligibility to include people with chronic diseases, even if their disease is not terminal. Although this only applies to physical diseases, the eligibility of the program will be expanded in 2027 to include people with chronic mental illnesses.
The use of Maid in Canada continues to increase annually and now represents almost 5% of all deaths in the country.
Dolan said that some of the Democrats who opposed the project in the state lower house “cited fears about how poor communities and with little medical care would be the objective and danger that medications not consumed could be sold in the streets of their districts.”
“The panorama to defeat the project seems gloomy, and it is tempting to surrender to hopelessness,” wrote the cardinal.
“But those brave lifeguards on the bridge did not give up; they worked together to avoid a tragedy,” Dolan added. “Will state senators or Mrs. Hochul go ahead to protect the beautiful human life? That is my prayer.”
Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in CNA.
Tyler Arnold
Tyler Arnold is a reporter of the National Catholic Register. He previously worked at The Center Square and has published in various media, including The Associated Press, National Review, The American Conservative and The Federalist.