Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the Medical Aid in Dying Act on Friday, giving terminally ill New Yorkers with less than six months to live the choice to end their life with medical assistance.

The act will take effect on Aug. 5, six months after its signing. At that time, eligible adult New Yorkers deemed to be of sound mind can request medication from their treating physicians to “hasten the patient’s death.” Originally passed by the state legislature in June, Hochul negotiated with lawmakers over the past few months to secure “additional guardrails that will make sure people won’t be taken advantage of,” according to a Feb. 6 press release from the governor’s office.

“Although this was an incredibly difficult decision, I ultimately determined that with the additional guardrails agreed upon with the legislature, this bill would allow New Yorkers to suffer less — to shorten not their lives, but their deaths,” Hochul said in a Dec. 17 press release.

Under the law, a patient must submit a written request, signed by two adult witnesses not including the patient’s physician and a request in audio or video. The amended law now prohibits any individual who may “benefit financially” from the death of the patient from being allowed to be a witness. The patient may rescind the request for medically assisted suicide at any time, without regard to the patient’s decision-making ability.

It also includes safeguards to ensure that patients make their decisions without any outside influence. Physicians are required to refer their patients to a mental health professional if they are concerned about that patient’s decision-making capacity. Two doctors must confirm that the patient is mentally capable of deciding to legally end their life.

While passing the state legislature, the law encountered some opposition, with several of the lawmakers voting “no” on religious grounds.

Sr. Rose Casaleno, the director of the Newman House, the Catholic Church at Binghamton University, told Pipe Dream that she was opposed to the law’s passage.

“As people of faith, we are called to protect the dignity of every human life, especially in moments of suffering,” Casaleno wrote. “Rather than supporting laws like New York’s Medical Aid in Dying Act, the Church invites us to accompany the dying with love, prayer, and compassionate care — offering palliative support, presence, and hope rooted in Christ. In doing so, we bear witness to a life-affirming message that no one is alone, and every life remains sacred until natural death.”

Religiously affiliated hospitals and home hospice providers can opt out of the legislation.

According to a 2024 YouGov poll, 72 percent of New Yorkers support the ability for terminally ill people to receive medically assisted suicide. Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo MA ‘84, who co-sponsored the bill, shared her support for the new safeguards that Hochul supported and acknowledged the consistent work that advocacy groups did to get the bill forward.

Thirteen other states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical aid in dying. The first Death with Dignity Bill in the United States was introduced in 1989 in Oregon and passed in 1994. Some advocates of physician-assisted suicide argue that giving people the choice to end their life on their own terms is an extension of bodily autonomy.

“I am grateful we were able to get this bill over the finish line this year,” said State Sen. Lea Webb ‘04, who voted in favor of the bill. “I thank the advocates, many of whom are fighting terminal illnesses, for all of their visits to Albany to share their stories, their pain, their hopes that we would have the courage to pass this legislation so that they could have the option of dying with peace and dignity.”