New York’s new Medical Aid in Dying law takes effect on Wednesday, and groups challenging the law in court received mixed results this week.
A federal judge dismissed one of the lawsuits on Thursday, while a judge in a separate case signed off on a temporary injunction regarding the plaintiffs in that case.
The state and a coalition of Catholic health providers agreed to that injunction and restraining order regarding enforcement law.
The agreement means four orders of religious nuns, the Diocese of Rockville Centre on Long Island and other Catholic facilities don’t have to comply with the law while a federal lawsuit moves forward.
“This agreement is an important first step towards protecting religious freedom. New York cannot force the Church to answer suffering with suicide or abandon the sick and dying when they need care most,” Bishop John Barres of the Diocese of Rockville Centre said in a statement. “Until our legal fight is resolved, this temporary agreement keeps our ministries free to serve every patient according to the Gospel. We continue to proclaim that every human life is sacred and worthy of love until its natural end.”
The groups sued just weeks before the law took effect, alleging religious protections in the law didn’t go far enough to preserve their First Amendment rights.
The order only applies to those who are part of the lawsuit.
A federal judge dismissed a separate lawsuit from individual plaintiffs and disability rights advocates on Thursday, saying the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue.
The plaintiffs in that case alleged that the law violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by denying equal protection and due process to people with disabilities, meaning they are singling them out for lethal prescriptions instead of offering them proper care and treatment.
But the judge found that the plaintiffs had not shown that would be the case.
Under the law, those with six months or less to live can obtain life-ending medication once they follow certain conditions.
Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the law earlier this year, after more than a decade of debate in the state Legislature.
