Today is a dark day for Disabled New Yorkers. Governor Kathy Hochul is signing legislation that will authorize medical professionals to assist individuals in committing suicide. While supporters frame this bill as a compassionate response to suffering, a closer look reveals what it truly represents: a policy rooted in an ableism that signals those who are Disabled live lesser lives.

The Center for Disability Rights, the New York Association on Independent Living, and other disability rights advocates have opposed this legislation because of the disparate impact that it will have on Disabled New Yorkers. When Governor Hochul signs this legislation into law, nondisabled New Yorkers who say they want to die will be offered suicide prevention services and Disabled New Yorkers will be given a prescription to access the means to die – either at their own hand or by a caregiver who may financially benefit from their death.

Advocates are also gravely concerned that the state’s use of private insurance companies to “manage care” embeds a capitalist financial incentive in these decisions. CDR and others remain concerned that these companies will restrict access to treatment and services while approving payment of a few dollars for a prescription to die. Individuals – particularly those from marginalized communities – who see no other option or simply don’t have the resources to fight these corporate giants will needlessly die. At the same time, insurance company executives will make even more money from these untimely deaths. This dynamic is particularly true for elderly and Disabled individuals whose medical care and long-term services/supports are paid for by a single insurance company that not only can avoid paying for expensive medical treatment but also is able to eliminate the costs associated with long-term services like 24-hour home care.

Research in states that have legalized assisted suicide has consistently demonstrated that loss of autonomy and fear of disability – not pain and suffering – drive the decision of individuals to end their lives. This legislation does nothing to address those underlying issues. This concern is particularly important because the Hochul Administration is restricting access to services that provide such support through the implementation of managed care, the constriction of consumer-directed services, and changes in eligibility which restrict access to services for people who have cognitive disabilities, including dementia. These changes will leave Disabled no other option except to be forced into a nursing facility. Compassion and Choices founder, Derek Humphry, made these connections himself writing: “Surveys have consistently found that most people would rather continue living at home rather than in a nursing home. What has not been known until recently, however, is that the aversion to ‘such a facility is so strong that 30% of those surveyed said they would rather die than live permanently in a nursing home.’ This information begs the question: Why do we, as a nation, not allow these people to die, if they have no alternative to a nursing home existence and this is what they want? Their lives would conclude with dignity and self-respect, and one measure of cost containment would be in place.”

Derek Humphry and Mary Clement, Freedom to Die: People, Politics, and the Right-to-Die Movement (St. Martin’s Press, 1998), p. 319 (emphasis in original).

The deck is stacked against Disabled New Yorkers, whose marginalization isn’t often even recognized as such by some progressives. Disabled individuals – particularly Disabled people of color – experience higher healthcare disparities, greater discrimination, and elevated risks of abuse. Medical providers frequently underestimate their quality of life and ascribe to the ableist assumption that someone is “better off dead than disabled.” If assisted suicide is legalized, there will be attempts, and ultimately success, in weakening safeguards and broadening eligibility, as evidenced by the track record of other regions that have enacted similar laws.

Finally, Governor Hochul has once again refused to engage the Disability Community on a topic of great importance to us – a topic that is literally life and death. Governor Hochul made unilateral decisions regarding Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Services without effectively engaging the Disability Community, and her administration has made it clear that they won’t intercede with their sole vendor to ensure compliance with the signed contract and to follow through on the limited concessions made to the Disability Community. The state is also expected to release an Olmstead Plan with no specific targets for Disabled New Yorkers to leave or avoid institutional settings. Once again, the administration is making decisions without our input by failing to engage with us after announcing that the legislation would be signed with amendments. At today’s meeting of the Most Integrated Setting Coordinating Council which is charged with developing a Olmstead Plan for the state, CDR’s CEO – an appointed member of the MISCC said, “When Disabled Americans and New Yorkers say ‘Give me liberty or give me death’ they are demanding a right to live in freedom, not asking to be killed.”

Although the public messaging from the Hochul administration and others will focus on individual autonomy, this ableist legislation is fundamentally about corporate and societal cost containment. The message from the Hochul Administration is very clear: it is easier and cheaper to pay to kill Disabled people than to provide services and supports for them to live in freedom. Instead of addressing fears about the loss of autonomy, dignity, mobility, or becoming a burden to family and caregivers, this legislation will reinforce those ableist fears and Disabled New Yorkers will needlessly die before their time. It sends an unmistakable message that some lives, particularly the lives of Disabled New Yorkers, are not worth living, and no amendments to the legislation will change that. Saying anything different is just dishonest.