LEGISLATIVE ADVOCACY
FCLNY is non-partisan, but works with diverse ideological and/or religious organizations that align with our goals.
New York State
Medical Aid in Dying Act
Pending in NYS
The Medical Aid in Dying Act (MAID) (S2445C/A995C) allows for ‘mentally competent’ ‘terminally ill’ people, beginning at age 18, to request and consume deadly medication that will end their lives. Versions of MAID were first introduced in the New York legislature in 2015, and consistently reintroduced during every subsequent legislative term, including in January of 2023. MAID is currently pending in the NYS Senate and Assembly Health Committees. Supermajorities in both houses lean in favor of MAID, and an imminent decision threatens the horizon and the dignity of human life at its natural end.
MAID dehumanizes and devalues the aged, diseased, and disabled.
MAID normalizes suicide and decriminalizes assisted suicide.
According to the National Council on Disability “The evidence strongly suggests that … safeguards are circumvented in ways that are harmful to patients.”
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NY’s pending MAID Act goes far out of its way to forbid referencing death by an intentional dose of lethal medication as a suicide, and to protect accomplices of such suicides from criminal prosecution. MAID clearly supports suicide and excuses assisted suicide for a select group of people. Webster’s dictionary defines suicide as “the act or instance of taking one’s own life voluntarily and intentionally.”
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MAID destigmatizes the gravity of suicide and undermines the value of human life. MAID is legal in ONLY eleven U.S. jurisdictions including Oregon, New Mexico, Colorado and Montana where suicide is a leading cause of death, including among youth.
“When assisted suicide is legalized it immediately becomes the cheapest treatment.” If health “insurers deny, or even simply delay approval of expensive life-sustaining treatment, patients can be steered toward hastening their deaths.”
"There is robust evidence, taken from different jurisdictions and using a variety of statistical methods, that the total number of self initiated deaths rises significantly where [Assisted Suicide] is legally available, and strong evidence that this has a greater impact on older women.”
A growing body of research demonstrates that a significant portion of terminally ill patients consider themselves a burden to family and others. The evidence also identifies "self-perceived burden" as a relevant factor in making
end of life and death-hastening decisions.
Numerous professional associations and organizations oppose ASSISTED SUICIDE, including, American Medical Association, World Medical Association, National Council on Disability, American Association of People with Disabilities and the Medical Society of the State of New York
URGENT CALL TO ACTION
Please call and email all THE LEGISLATORS IN THE HEALTH COMMITTEES OF THE NYS SENATE AND ASSEMBLY. Let them know you are a New Yorker and you oppose the passage of the
Medical Aid In Dying Act (MAID).
(Only participate if you are a NYS registered voter)
If you live in a district of a health committee member please be sure to say so.
Phone & Email Script
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Dear,
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Taking one's own life is suicide and helping someone commit suicide is criminal. Progressive societies promote life-affirming solutions, not the violent destruction of human life.
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I am a voting New Yorker and I oppose Medical Aid In Dying.
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I urge you to vote against MAID
(S.2445C/A.995C).
Sincerely,
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NYS Equal Rights Amendment
The (Anti) ‘Equal Rights Amendment’ to the New York State Constitution will officially appear on the ballot for a popular referendum vote Tuesday, November 5th, 2024.
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Amending the constitution is a 3 part process, and NY's 'Equal Rights Amendment' is 2/3 of the way through:
1. The NYS Legislature favorably voted to pass the amendment in June of 2022 (S51002/A41002)
2. The NYS Legislature favorably voted to pass the amendment again in January of 2023 (S108A/A1283)
3. The NYS Legislature scheduled the amendment to be on the ballot for New Yorkers to vote upon, November 5, 2024.
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While there is no explicit reference to abortion, some of the amendment's ramifications and impacts include:
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If the amendment to the NY Constitution is approved: Abortion will be codified in NY. Abortion rights will be woven into the fabric of our neighborhoods, communities, towns and cities. Perhaps, most poignantly, the “right” to kill unborn children will be sewn into the hearts and minds of FUTURE GENERATIONS AND GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND PRACTICES.
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If the amendment to the NY Constitution is approved: Children in utero will be further dehumanized and denied protection from abortion.
If the amendment to the NY Constitution is approved: Unborn children, regardless of age, sex, disability, gender or race, will be at risk of lethal violence. Living pre-born children will be in danger of death more than ever before in NY.
If the amendment to the NY Constitution is approved: Common-sense standards regarding abortion and the well-being of women will be in jeopardy.
If the amendment to the NY Constitution is approved: NY bills addressing abortion, except to further expand, protect and deregulate abortion will more likely than not be considered “unconstitutional” including abortion related requirements such as: parental notification, informed consent, wait periods, state health department tracking, reporting and publishing of abortion complication data, annual state health department inspections of abortion clinics, pregnancy ultrasounds, adoption service referrals, and pre and post abortion counseling.
Update on the Status of Medication Abortion in the U.S. and NYS
In FDA vs. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (2024), "The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled to preserve access to the abortion pill mifepristone, a pill used in the most common way to end a pregnancy."
"Thousands of women in states with abortion bans and restrictions are receiving abortion pills in the mail from states that have laws protecting prescribers," including New York.
It is currently legal for medical providers and certified retail pharmacies to mail
abortion pills to women and girls with a prescription via tele-health in NY. Under the current rules surrounding chemical abortion, pregnant women and girls can "take the medication to induce an abortion through 10 weeks of pregnancy," and without a pre-abortion ultrasound.
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​The RHA Degrades Women and Dehumanizes Children.
PLAINTIFF-VICTIMS CHALLENGE NEW YORK'S REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH ACT IN HISTORIC LAWSUIT
Relevant portions of the NY RHA legal challenge are currently on appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The rights of viable unborn children, presented by the NY RHA lawsuit, are hopefully one step closer to adjudication by the U.S. Supreme Court. We hope the lawsuit will land squarely in the hands of the same U.S. Supreme Court Justices that overturned Roe vs. Wade (1973) in Dobbs vs. Jackson (2022).
​Stay Tuned!
New York enacted the Reproductive Health Act (RHA) in January, 2019. This law allows for the killing of viable unborn children, including healthy children in utero, for any reason within 24 weeks of pregnancy. Modern medical science is clear that unborn children can be viable (capable of survival outside the womb) as early as 21 weeks gestation.
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The RHA permits killing viable unborn children, including healthy children in utero, during the later-second and third trimester of pregnancy for reasons unrelated to a mother's physical health. In NY, approximately 1,600 unborn children are aborted each year at 20+ weeks gestation. Studies show most later-term abortions are 'elective,' performed on healthy pregnant women and healthy unborn children.
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The RHA did away with NY's longstanding fetal homicide law. Because of the RHA it is no longer a separate crime in NY for abusers to kill viable unborn children, including wanted unborn children, in attacks on their mothers.
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The RHA allows for an undefined group of health care practitioners to perform abortions, including surgical, second and third trimester abortions. Studies show that even mid-level health care providers that perform abortions have higher rates of “incomplete abortion,” uterine “perforation” and “hemorrhage” than physicians performing abortions.
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The RHA eradicated NY Public Health Law (PHL) 4164, without enacting any form of replacement. In NY, later-second and third trimester abortions can occur in facilities other than hospitals, ambulatory centers or physicians' offices. According to studies, including, Risk Factors for Legal Induced Abortion-Related Mortality in the United States, the "risk of death" for "women obtaining legally induced abortions" "increase[s] exponentially by 38% for each additional week of gestation.”
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Further, eliminating PHL 4164 allows for infants who survive abortion to die without adequate "medical care" or without a second physician present to care for that infant. According to the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention children are sometimes born alive during later-term induced abortions.
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International
World Beyond War Declaration of Peace
FCLNY Organizational Signer
We seek positive and sustainable peace, founded on justice
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“We understand that wars and militarism make us less safe rather than protect us, that they kill, injure and traumatize adults, children and infants, severely damage the natural environment, erode civil liberties, and drain our economies, siphoning resources from life-affirming activities. We commit to engage in and support nonviolent efforts to end all war and preparations for war and to create a sustainable and just peace.”
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Please consider signing with us as an individual or organization.