New York Issues Nuns Temporary Religious-Liberty Relief as Legal Assisted-Suicide Regulations Go Live 

Thanks be to God the great man, Kevin “Seamus” Hasson, started the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

New York’s assisted-suicide law becomes mandated on August 5. That’s a problem for Catholics who service patients. And so once again, Catholic nuns have to go to court to fight for their religious liberty.

The good news for now is: A temporary restraining order has been issued in New York, as Becket requested on behalf of the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, the Hawthorne Dominicans, the Little Sisters of the Poor, and the Missionary Sisters of St. Benedict, as well as the Diocese of Rockville Center and her bishop, John Barres.  

From the Becket Release:  

With agreement from the state of New York, a federal judge ordered the state not to enforce its assisted-suicide mandate against four orders of Catholic nuns and several Catholic healthcare ministries while their federal lawsuit proceeds. The temporary agreement protects the ministries from being forced to help terminally ill patients end their lives via suicide in direct violation of their faith.  

In Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm v. James, Becket asked a federal court to protect the ministries before New York’s Medical Aid in Dying Act takes effect on August 5. New York just agreed that itwould not apply the law to them while the court considers their request for a preliminary injunction. A hearing on Becket’s motion for a preliminary injunction, previously scheduled for Monday, August 3, will now likely be rescheduled to a later date. 

For generations, the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, the Missionary Sisters of St. Benedict, the Little Sisters of the Poor, and the Diocese of Rockville Centre have cared for the sick, elderly, and dying across New York. Guided by the belief that every life is a precious gift, they offer expert medical care, prayer, and loving accompaniment until the very end. New York’s law would force them to violate their beliefs by counseling patients about assisted suicide, helping them qualify for lethal drugs, and directing them to providers willing to prescribe those drugs. Those who refused could face significant fines and even time behind bars. 

I interviewed one of the Dominican Sisters and a Becket lawyer about the situation here.

In another petition to New York, a judge dismissed a request from disability-rights groups to throw the assisted-suicide law out on equal-protection grounds. I talked with Matt Valliere from the Institute for Patients’ Rights about it here.

You can expect an appeal from them.

When Dobbs was about to come down from the Supreme Court, Kathy Hochul made it her business to declare that Lady Liberty would embrace any person — because we know it’s cruel and rude to say that only women get pregnant — coming into the state for abortions.

How about life and liberty actually be a thing in the Empire State?

The upside of a petition and case like the sisters have had to bring is: Can anyone actually not see that to be mandated to offer their patients assisted suicide would be an obvious violation of the religious liberty of Catholic nuns who care for the sick?