Overview
- A coalition of Catholic religious orders, dioceses and faith-based health providers filed a federal lawsuit last week that asks a judge to halt New York’s Medical Aid in Dying Act before it takes effect.
- The complaint argues the statute’s narrow opt-out and the state’s counseling, referral and transfer duties effectively compel religious caregivers to facilitate assisted suicide in violation of the First Amendment.
- Plaintiffs — including the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, the Little Sisters of the Poor, the Diocese of Rockville Centre, and Catholic Health — seek emergency injunctive relief to block enforcement while the case proceeds.
- The suit warns that noncompliance could trigger civil fines, licensing discipline and possible criminal exposure under the law and related palliative‑information rules, which is driving the request for immediate relief.
- The case, brought by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, arrives as regulators draft implementation rules and follows parallel legal and advocacy challenges over conscience, disability and patient‑safety concerns in other states.