Dozens rally in support of Medical Aid in Dying Act
The bill allows terminally ill adults, with less than six months less to live, to end their lives by self-administering a drug.
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Assemblywoman Amy Paulin was joined by fellow elected officials and advocates to urge Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign into law a bill that would allow people with terminal illnesses to end their lives.
Assemblywoman Paulin introduced this legislation over 10 years ago. In June 2025, it was passed in the New York State Legislature.
Dozens gathered with candles and signs Thursday night to rally in support of the Medical Aid in Dying Act.
“I’ve been an advocate for Medical Aid in Dying for more than 10 years,” said Stacey Gibson, of Putnam County.
Gibson is a proponent of this bill for many reasons. She’s a three-time cancer survivor currently living with Lymphoma, and she also lost her husband more than a decade ago.
“He was sick for eight years and he ultimately chose to stop eating and drinking. And that took 12 days and that is not a way that anybody should die,” she said.
This bill allows terminally ill adults, with less than six months less to live, to end their lives by self-administering a drug.
It includes specific criteria for patients and their physicians to meet before a patient could qualify.
At the rally, multiple people shared their personal stores, like Benny Pollack, who is disabled.
“We want to be treated with respect, we don’t want to be patronized, we want to have the same rights,” said Pollack, who resides in New York City. “The Medical Aid in Dying is very important for us as it is for everybody else.”
Paulin says while in the process of fighting for this bill, she lost her sister to ovarian cancer.
“We don’t know whether she would have availed herself of the medication that would have given her peaceful death, but it would have given us as a family and her as a cancer victim, the comfort during those terrible times,” said Paulin.
The bill currently sits on Gov. Hochul’s desk.
News 12 reached out to her team for comment. A spokesperson said that she will review the legislation.
A statement from the Governor's Office “There are strong views on both sides of the spectrum…and I’m conscious of that and it’s going to be a very weighty decision on me between now and the end of the year.”
Opponents have criticized the bill on religious grounds and had called on the state to invest money into end-of-life care instead.
"We just want to give dying people the comfort during their most vulnerable moments,” explained Paulin.
If this does get signed into law, New York would be joining 10 other states to authorize Medical Aid in Dying.
