Legislative Memo on the New York Medical Aid in Dying Act

The New York Civil Liberties Union strongly supports the New York Medical Aid in Dying Act, which would give people who are terminally ill with a prognosis of no more than six months to live the option to request, through a tightly regulated process, medication they can administer themselves to bring about a peaceful death. The right to make choices about one’s medical care is rooted in the fundamental civil liberties principles of autonomy, privacy, bodily integrity, and self-determination. These vital liberty interests are firmly protected under the United States and New York constitutions.

How a person chooses to face death is a decision only that individual can make. The legislature should protect the rights of individuals to decide for themselves how they spend their last days by passing the Medical Aid in Dying Act.