The 2023 legislative session is over, and while state lawmakers approved several laws favorable to abortion zealots, the doctor-assisted suicide proposal (Bill S.2445-A-Hoylman-Sigal/A.995-A-Paulin) did not come up for a vote in either chamber.
Jason McGuire of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms (NYCF) credits "the grace of God" and coordinated efforts within the New York Alliance Against Assisted Suicide for seeing to the bill's defeat for the eighth year in a row.
"I think it's fair to say that every one of those years, you begin the session being told that assisted suicide will pass; 'this is the year,'" he accounts, "and then you end the session with folks saying that the votes are there if we can just get it to the floor. But year after year after year, we've been able to defeat that. I hope it's an encouragement to other blue states that wins are possible."
He knows that proponents of doctor-assisted suicide are not giving up on New York.
"I think it's fair to mention the fact that legislative victories are always temporary because those advocating for a particular position will be back again next year," McGuire notes. "So it is important that every year, and every day of every year, that people of faith that care about these issues show up for the fight. When you show up, you can win."
If opponents of assisted suicide do not continue to hold the line, he warns that liberal states will surely be emboldened to pass such measures.
