New York Governor Kathy Hochul Abandons Catholic Doctrine by Signing Euthanasia Law

During the Christmas season, Christians of every faith celebrate life — specifically the life of their savior, Jesus Christ. But New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, a baptized Catholic, has rejected her church’s teaching that human life is sacred by agreeing to sign into law euthanasia legislation on December 17.

The assisted-suicide law permits medical professionals to administer “medicine” that kills terminally ill patients. Euthanasia, a term coined in the 16th century by proponents of “mercy killing,” involves the deliberate administration of a lethal drug to hasten death in a suffering patient. The New England Journal of Medicine defines this procedure as such. Opposition to euthanasia dates back to ancient times and is deeply rooted in medical ethics.

The Hippocratic Oath, administered to medical candidates during graduation exercises since antiquity, includes the pledge: “I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked … not will I make suggestions to this effect.” Antipathy to euthanasia is also well established in the Judeo-Christian tradition. According to Genesis (9:6), “He who sheds man’s blood, shall have his blood shed by man, for in the image of God man was made.” Exodus (23:7) states that the “innocent and just person you shall not put to death.”

The Roman Catholic Church has always forbidden euthanasia and suicide. St. Augustine wrote in The City of God: “For it is clear that if no one has a private right to kill even a guilty man (and no law allows this), then certainly anyone who kills himself is a murderer…” St. Thomas Aquinas argued that acts of suicide and euthanasia violate the virtues of love, fortitude, temperance, hope, faith, prudence, and the common good. In 1940, 1943, and 1948, Pope Pius XII condemned both compulsory and voluntary mercy killing for all reasons — particularly economic and racial ones.

On May 4, 1990, the Vatican issued a Declaration on Euthanasia stating that “no one is permitted to ask for this act of killing, either for himself or herself or for another person entrusted in his or her care.” Hochul’s euthanasia law represents an assault on medical ethics and the values of compassion. Physicians are called to cure and comfort patients, not to administer lethal drugs. Compelling doctors to participate in assisted suicide decisions crosses their professional boundaries and exposes them to undue influence from finances and family pressure.

To live with dignity until natural death, a chronically ill, disabled, or dying person — like any human being — has the right to compassionate, humane, and medically indicated treatment. Hochul’s decision rejects the belief in the inalienable right to life and the obligation to promote a culture of compassion that ensures every person lives with dignity.

George J. Marlin, a former executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is the author of The American Catholic Voter: Two Hundred Years of Political Impact and Christian Persecutions in the Middle East: A 21st Century Tragedy.