Action is needed: New York state assembly passes assisted suicide bill.
Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
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| New York State Legislature |
On April 28 the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition issued an Action Alert concerning the New York assisted suicide Bill (A136 / SB 138).
Bad news: On April 29 the New York State Assembly passed the assisted suicide bill (A136) by a 81 to 67 vote.
We need you to contact members of the New York State Senate Health Committee (Link to Senate Health Committee) to express your opposition to Senate Bill SB 138.
I am concerned that the assisted suicide bill is being pushed through based on a budget deal with the Governor.
Before writing the article on April 28, I looked at the “actions” concerning the assisted suicide bill and I found no indication that the bill would be voted on so quickly.
An article by Vaughn Golden that was published in the New York Post explained that the issue of assisted suicide was discussed in a special budget meeting. Golden reported that supporters of assisted suicide claimed that they had the votes to get the assisted suicide bill passed.
The article did not actually state that the assisted suicide bill was part of a political “trade off” to get the budget passed, but assisted suicide was discussed in the special budget meeting. This would not be the first time that an assisted suicide bill was prioritised as part of budget negotiations.
We urge you to contact members of the New York State Senate Health Committee (Link to Senate Health Committee) to express your opposition to assisted suicide Senate Bill SB 138.
There are many reasons to oppose assisted suicide.
The primary reason is that assisted suicide involves the intentional killing of a person by a lethal poison cocktail. The promoters of assisted suicide claim that this is an autonomous act, but it is not autonomous because it requires the involvement of two doctors who agree that the persons life is not worth living with one of them prescribing the lethal poison cocktail for the purpose of suicide.
Nearly every state that has legalized assisted suicide, has expanded their law.
The New York sponsors of the assisted suicide bill claim that it is a “tightly worded” bill. The assisted suicide lobby uses a “bait and switch” technique to sell assisted suicide with a “tightly worded bill” and if the bill passes they pressure the state to expand their laws or force them to expand their law with a court case later. (Article Link).
Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, who is the sponsor of the bill, stated (starting at 18:40) at an event that:
We’ve been criticized by some organizations that actually want an expansion to that but we’ve held firm because… we want to get this passed first.
People with eating disorders are dying by assisted suicide.
An article by Jennifer Brown that was in the Colorado Sun on March 14, 2022 reported that Dr. Jennifer Gaudiani, an internal medicine doctor who specializes in eating disorders published a paper on assisted suicide for people with Anorexia Nervosa in Colorado. Gaudiani approved assisted suicide for Anorexia Nervosa by falsely defining the condition as terminal.
Assisted suicide creates two tier medicine
Some suicidal people are offered suicide prevention while others are provided assisted suicide. Assisted suicide is inherently discriminatory.
We believe in caring for people not killing them.
Assisted suicide is an act of providing a poison cocktail to someone who is living with suicidal ideation, often related to their health concerns.
Assisted suicide constitutes killing. We believe in caring for people not killing them at their time of need.
