Legal doctor-assisted suicide moved closer to becoming law in New York State.

“His Holiness delivered a remarkable address calling on the world to save our planet and take care of the most vulnerable in our society.” That was New York Governor Kathy Hochul, joining the chorus praising the life of Pope Francis upon his death last week. Hochul remembered visiting the Vatican last year to talk about climate change. 

“I join Catholics around the world in mourning the loss of His Holiness Pope Francis,” Hochul said, adding:  

Pope Francis embodied the values Christ taught us every day: helping the less fortunate, calling for peace and ensuring every person is treated as a child of God. He led with compassion, humility and inclusivity, emphasizing that God does not disown any of his children. He reminded us of our collective responsibility to protect this beautiful planet, our shared home. And he was a man of peace, and a fighter for social and economic justice. 

She recalled:  

Last year I was honored to be invited to the Vatican to deliver remarks at a Pontifical Summit to discuss climate change. His Holiness delivered a remarkable address calling on the world to save our planet and take care of the most vulnerable in our society. He then spoke individually to each of the leaders assembled, and blessed Bill and I on the occasion of our 40th wedding anniversary. It is a moment I will never forget. 

We should all strive to carry on his legacy. May His Holiness rest in peace.

At that conference a year ago, Pope Francis said:  

This is the question: Are we working for a culture of life or for a culture of death? You have answered that we must heed the cry of the earth, hear the plea of the poor, and be attentive to the aspirations of the young and the dreams of children! We have a grave responsibility to ensure that their future is not denied them. You have declared your resolve to choose a sustainable human development. I very much appreciate this decision, since climate change is “a global social issue and one intimately related to the dignity of human life.” [The quote is from his Laudato Si.] 

What is a culture of death, according to Pope Francis? It’s being abysmal stewards of Creation, which includes human life. Ideological manipulations by the likes of the group formerly known as the Hemlock Society aside, it involves safeguarding human dignity, which means holding back the hand of man who would kill the sick and suffering — especially, but far from exclusively, the elderly.  

This week, the New York State Assembly passed the Medical Aid in Dying Act to legalize assisted suicide in New York. It has yet to be voted on in the State Senate before landing on Governor Hochul’s desk. Hochul has not indicated whether she will sign it or not.

Hemlock is now known as Compassion and Choices, and they have long had the Empire State on their most-wanted list for legalizing doctor-assisted suicide. Doing so would be suicide for New York, at a time when suicide itself is on the rise across the country — a trend the Covid pandemic certainly made worse. (And speaking of Covid: Nursing homes in New York became mortuaries in no small part because of rationing and bad decisions by former Governor Andrew Cuomo and his administration.)

Legal assisted suicide would also further solidify New York’s position as the state of the culture of death. It’s already known as the abortion capital of the country. In a post-Roe America, Hochul has wanted New York to become an abortion tourist destination — come see the Statue of Liberty after your late-term abortion — and New York doctors have sent pills for early abortions to women and girls in other states.  

Pope Francis talked about the dangers of a throwaway society. Abortion advocates were okay with that for purposes of a climate-change summit. Never mind when he talked about the elderly and the unborn, though.  

If Kathy Hochul truly wants to honor the memory of Pope Francis, the last thing she would do is legalize assisted suicide a year after meeting him and having her marriage blessed by him. She wouldn’t be hailed by the peddlers of death, but she would be defending some of the most vulnerable in her state — at stages in their lives that most of us will reach before too long. Will we face it in a legal and medical culture of life or death?

Hochul’s decision is life or death. May the memory of a meeting with Pope Francis last May inspire her to courage.  

(Watch my interview with Charlie Camosy, author of Resisting Throwaway Culture and former board member of Democrats for Life, here.)