The Ulster Deanery Respect Life Committee (UDRLC), which coordinates the Catholic pro-life movement in Ulster County, received the news of the failure of A.995/S.2445 (a.k.a. “Medical Aid in Dying”) in the legislative session at Albany with joy over a desire to protect our disabled, elderly, poor, and friendless New Yorkers from a prescription of death to their maladies. 

“Anticipating the return of pro-euthanasia forces to Albany in the next session, our committee intends to keep advocating for the lives of our sick, elderly, disabled, and lonely neighbors against the false compassion of ‘assisted suicide’ as the cure for their ills,” Deacon John Carr, deputy moderator of the UDRLC, said.

For the fifth consecutive time it was proposed, an assisted suicide bill failed to pass the New York State Legislature.

The UDRLC exhorted Ulster County residents via cooperating Catholic parishes in Ulster County, and allies such as the Bruderhof Communities, to contact state legislators representing Ulster County with their opposition to the bill, as well as conveying such opposition locally and in Albany, most notably at a rally earlier this spring by the New York Alliance Against Assisted Suicide. 

“We have raised consciousness in different corners of Ulster through efforts of prayer, distribution of signs and literature, alerts to the Catholic faithful, our website, and approaching state legislators and/or their staffs both locally and at Albany,” stated Father Arthur F. Rojas, moderator and spiritual director of the UDRLC.  

The UDRLC cited Assemblyman Brian Maher and Senator Peter Oberacker as especially receptive to the arguments and witness of pro-life Ulsterites. “We will continue to hope and pray for the conversion of the other state legislators representing parts of Ulster County toward supporting the human rights of those who need help and not harm,” said Father Rojas, who is also the pastor of Presentation-Sacred Heart Parish (Port Ewen-Esopus).

Among its various activities on behalf of the pro-life cause, the UDRLC is gearing up to oppose so-called “Equal Rights Amendment” that may appear on the November ballot as a proposed addition to the New York state constitution.  

“Just as euthanasia is marketed as ‘assisted suicide’ or ‘death with dignity’ to attract public support by masking the grim reality, so does the proposed ‘Equal Rights Amendment’ aim to enshrine abortion-on-demand until birth as well as to undermine parental rights over the medical care of their children on abortion and gender dysphoria, due to the text of the proposal,” asserted Father Rojas.

“New Yorkers of all faiths and even of no religious faith who shun extreme attacks on parental rights or on the humanity of preborn children should vote no on this proposal on November 5,” Deacon Carr added.

The Ulster Deanery Respect Life Committee coordinates the pro-life activities, both spiritual and practical, of Catholics throughout the various parishes of Ulster County. The committee also is concerned with issues of family and the common good and is open to cooperating with organizations with shared values and interests.