If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts or a crisis, please reach out immediately to the Suicide Prevention Lifeline by calling or texting 988.

Following is a statement by Dennis Poust, executive director of the New York State Catholic Conference, as the state’s physician-assisted suicide law goes into effect: 

“On August 5, New York becomes the latest in a growing number of jurisdictions where state-sanctioned suicide is authorized. With this sad milestone, our elected officials have turned the notion of “death with dignity” on its head.

“The truth is, human beings never lose their innate dignity, no matter how much their physical bodies betray them. Pushing suicide drugs on sick, disabled or dying New Yorkers does not enhance their dignity; it only enhances a coarsening of our culture and the bottom lines for insurers and medical facilities. It represents a failure of compassion, especially if lawmakers use this new law as an excuse to further delay appropriate investments in access to palliative and hospice care.

“The unintended consequences of this new law are tragically predictable, since we already have seen them play out in other countries, including Canada, which in just a few short years expanded its law to apply not only in cases of terminal illness but in cases of chronic illness and, effective next year, mental illness. We would also expect the state’s mixed messaging on suicide to lead to an increase in suicides in general, including by young, physically healthy people. 

“For Catholics, it is important to remember the words of the Bishops of New York State from December 2025:

“‘While physician-assisted suicide will soon be legal here in New York, we must clearly reiterate that it is in direct conflict with Catholic teaching on the sacredness and dignity of all human life from conception until natural death and is a grave moral evil on par with other direct attacks on human life.’

“As our state enters this new era of assisted death on demand, the Bishops ask all New Yorkers to pray for those facing difficult health crises, depression, disability, and the end-of-life. They also ask for prayers that our state citizens reject the Culture of Death and embrace a Culture of Life.”

The New York State Catholic Conference represents the Bishops of the state in working with government to shape laws and policies that pursue social justice, respect for life and the common good.