Countries like Canada, Switzerland, and Germany have already slid into a dystopian nightmare, offering state-sponsored death to the disabled, the poor, and even veterans struggling with PTSD. And now, New York is rushing to follow. Governor Kathy Hochul (D) announced it: assisted suicide is coming to the Empire State.

The governor declared she had struck a deal with the Legislature to enact the deceptively named “Medical Aid in Dying Act.” Starting in the summer of 2026, terminally ill New Yorkers with a prognosis of six months or less will be able to obtain lethal drugs to end their own lives. Hochul calls New York a “beacon of freedom” and frames this as the ultimate extension of so-called bodily autonomy — conveniently twisted positively as the “right to die” on one’s own terms.

Proponents insist the bill is ringed with safeguards: waiting periods, mental health evaluations, residency requirements, and other rules. These provisions are presented as ways to prevent coercion — a reasonable concern, one might say. After all, far fewer safeguards exist in pro-abortion laws to protect women from pressure or coercion into ending their unborn children’s lives. But that’s another story.

And yet, even these “safeguards” are little more than window dressing. The deeper truth is that the entire framework of assisted suicide is inherently coercive. It creates a façade of compassion, offering a quick “solution” that distracts from real alternatives like improved palliative care, pain management, or emotional support. It fast-tracks vulnerable people toward death. Once doctors are legally required to present “aid in dying” as a valid option, the message to defenseless patients becomes clear: your continued life is optional, perhaps even a burden — to your family, to the health care system, to society, and even to yourself.

But think about this for a second: If a depressed teenager or a lonely elderly person expressed the same desire to end their life, we would intervene immediately. That’s why we have crisis hotlines, therapy, family support, and every resource we could muster — because we don’twant people to throw their precious lives away. A desire to die is a cry for help, with pain, emptiness, and hopelessness echoing throughout the dark abyss. And so, the strategy has stayed largely consistent: When someone is struggling and wants to end it all, we affirm that their life has irreplaceable value and that their despair, however profound, is not permanent.

And yet, the moment someone receives a terminal diagnosis, it’s as though we abandon that instinct. Instead of extending a lifeline, we hand them a lethal injection. Relabel suicide “medical aid in dying,” and suddenly despair becomes dignified? A permanent solution to temporary suffering becomes “compassion”? No. This is glorified suicide, sold to the suffering under the banner of autonomy.

History shows where this road leads. Even Canada began with narrow restrictions — just like New York. You know… “terminal illness only.” Yet, within a few years, eligibility exploded. Today, people with chronic conditions, disabilities, or even poverty-driven suffering can qualify for MAID. Canadian veterans returning from war have been offered assisted suicide instead of mental health treatment. Disabled citizens have chosen death because they couldn’t get timely medical care or affordable housing. People want cures. They want treatments. And so, once death is branded as a “treatment,” pressures mount to broaden access, devalue more lives, and erode whatever protections were once in place.

And let’s be honest, here. The reality is not so complicated: no one is truly protected when the entire goal of the industry is death. No one is truly valued when all it takes is a tiny injection to end the life of a precious image bearer (Genesis 1:27) — a human being knit together in the womb by the Creator Himself (Psalm 139:13-16).

Family Research Council’s Joy Stockbauer said it well: “Assisted suicide is not about empowerment or bodily autonomy — it’s a tragic result of a culture of death that assigns value to human lives based on a subjective quality of life standard.” Far from the message euthanasia proponents promote, she added, “assisted suicide targets vulnerable people, like those with disabilities or chronic illnesses, and sells the lie that these human beings made in the image of God would be better off dead.”

“Our culture,” Stockbauer stressed, “has created such an idol of pleasure and convenience that people can no longer conceive of life holding deep value even in the face of pain or suffering.” But as Stockbauer rightly emphasized, “Assisted suicide is not the right answer to difficult circumstances. There is beauty, significance, and holiness in every human life.” After all, God’s word assures us: God’s grace is sufficient in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9), His joy is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10), and “all the promises of God find their Yes in Him” (2 Corinthians 1:20).

“We must encourage those experiencing difficult circumstances to recognize their own value rather than turning to this twisted alternative,” Stockbauer insisted. The fact of the matter is that suffering is a real and deeply unfortunate part of this world. Look no further than the account of Job — a faithful man who lost everything. And yet, what did he say? “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (1:21). Scripture never sugarcoats the treacherousness of sin and brokenness. Even so, it explicitly calls us to “choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:19).

True compassion invests in living well until one’s natural end — not into greasing the wheels of death, turning killing into a slick, efficient assembly line.

New York — all who push death disguised as mercy — had the chance to reject this fatal ideology. Instead, it has been embraced. Now it falls to us to push back. Contact your legislators. Advocate for better end-of-life care. Volunteer with hospice. Sit with the dying. Pray for the hurting. Affirm the dignity of every human life, from the womb to the final breath.

Every image-bearer of God deserves to be accompanied through the valley, not abandoned with nothing but pain in their hearts and a bottle of pills in their hands.