DATE: May 21, 2025
Agudath Israel expresses our unequivocal opposition to S138, the Medical Aid in Dying Act. This legislation compromises the fundamental obligation to preserve life and erodes the ethical duty of physicians to provide appropriate medical care to their patients.
As a Jewish advocacy organization, we are guided by the timeless principle that life is sacred. Our tradition teaches that every human being is created in the image of G-d, and that every moment of life has infinite value. Taking a life, even one in pain, breaks a sacred trust and tells the vulnerable among us, that their lives don’t matter. By passing this legislation, it is a quiet abandonment of those who need us most.
This bill also undermines the trust that patients place in their doctors. If physicians are empowered to end life, the line between care and killing becomes dangerously blurred. Vulnerable patients may begin to fear that their doctors will give up on them, especially when treatment becomes difficult or inconvenient.
Agudath Israel has long advocated on behalf of terminally ill patients, particularly through its Chayim Aruchim division, and notes that many patients with terminal diagnoses have gone on to live fulfilling lives well after their doctors’ darkest predictions have been pronounced. Moreover, misdiagnoses, pressure from family members, or financial concerns can sometimes lead patients to make irreversible decisions to end their lives prematurely.
Even more troubling is the bill’s failure to require a psychological evaluation before a patient is approved for assisted suicide. Depression is common among the terminally ill, and can cloud judgment, leading to decisions that are not truly voluntary. If mental health is overlooked, we risk mistaking treatable illness for informed consent.
Additionally, the bill allows death certificates to omit any mention of assisted suicide as the cause of death. This lack of transparency erodes public oversight and can conceal how the law is being used. By blurring these lines, it opens the door to a quiet expansion of this practice without public awareness or accountability.
We urge the Legislature to reject this bill. Legalizing suicide would mark a steep moral decline, abandoning long-held ethical boundaries under the guise of humanitarian progress.
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