Cardinal Dolan urges New York lawmakers: ‘Prevent, don’t assist, suicide’

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 30, 2025 / 18:23 pm (CNA).

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York is asking state lawmakers to oppose a bill that would legalize voluntary euthanasia, sometimes known as physician-assisted suicide.

In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal, Dolan wrote that lawmakers should strengthen efforts to “prevent” deaths by suicide rather than establishing a legal method to end one’s own life.

Dolan recounted an experience in which he saw a man on the George Washington Bridge who was “threatening to jump,” saying that onlookers prayed for him and rescuers tried “to coax him back to safety.”

“We all rallied on behalf of a troubled man intent on suicide,” he wrote. “That’s how it is when someone is thinking of taking his own life.”

Dolan noted that the archdiocese runs programs in its schools to help students who might be considering suicide and that the state “spends millions” of dollars on suicide prevention efforts and has bolstered mental health investments under the governorship of Kathy Hochul.

“Which is why I am more than puzzled, I am stunned, when I read that New York lawmakers are on the verge of legalizing suicide — not by leaping from a bridge but via a poison cocktail easily provided by physicians and pharmacists,” the cardinal added.

“I can’t help but shake my head in disbelief at the disparity in official responses,” he wrote. “Our government will marshal all its resources to save the life of one hopeless and despondent man. Yet it may conclude that some lives aren’t worth living — perhaps due to a serious illness or disability — and we will hand those despondent women and men a proverbial loaded gun and tell them to have at it.”

The proposed legislation passed the state’s lower chamber 81-67 last month with support from most Democrats and strong opposition from the Republican minority. More than 20 Democrats joined Republicans in opposition to the bill. The bill is now in the Senate, where some hesitancy within the Democratic Party is delaying a vote.

State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said two weeks ago that “more people have signed on in the Senate than had been over the past few years” and that if the proposal gets support from a majority of the body, “I’ll certainly bring it to the floor,” according to Politico.

In 10 states and the District of Columbia, euthanasia is legal in limited circumstances. Most of those states legalized the practice within the past decade. Euthanasia remains illegal in most of the country.

Under the New York proposal, euthanasia would only be legal for terminal illnesses, but Dolan noted in his op-ed that “many controllable illnesses can become terminal if untreated.”

“In a recent podcast, the Assembly sponsor conceded that diabetics could become eligible if they cease taking insulin, making their condition ‘terminal’ by definition,” the cardinal wrote.

He warned that even though the proposed New York law would have some limits, advocates of euthanasia in states where it is already legal “continue to push for expansion.” He also pointed to Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program, which “initially looked very much like the New York bill” but has since greatly expanded.

When MAID was first enacted in Canada in 2016, a person needed to be terminally ill to qualify, but in 2021 the country expanded eligibility to include people who are chronically ill, even if their illness is not terminal. Although this only applies to physical illnesses, the program’s eligibility is set to expand in 2027 to include people who have chronic mental illnesses.

The use of MAID in Canada continues to rise annually and now accounts for nearly 5% of all of the country’s deaths.

Dolan noted that some of the Democrats who opposed the bill in the state’s lower chamber “cited fears about how poor, medically underserved communities would be targeted and the danger that unconsumed drugs could be sold on the streets of their districts.”

“The prospects of defeating the bill look bleak, and it’s tempting to give in to hopelessness,” the cardinal wrote.

“But those brave first responders on the bridge didn’t give in; they worked together to stop a tragedy,” Dolan added. “Will state senators or Ms. Hochul step up to protect precious human life? That is my prayer.”

Source: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/264451/cardinal-timothy-dolan-urges-new-york-lawmakers-prevent-dont-assist-suicide-in-op-ed