New York: the Little Sisters of the Poor and Bishop Barres sue the law imposing cooperation with assisted suicide

Context

The Medical Aid in Dying Act, signed in the spring of 2026 by Governor Kathy Hochul, makes New York one of the American states to authorize medically assisted suicide, joining the dozen states that have already taken this step (Oregon, Washington, Vermont, California, Colorado, Hawaii, New Jersey, Maine, New Mexico, District of Columbia). The text provides that healthcare facilities, including religious ones, are required to cooperate with the device: systematic information of eligible patients, referral to a prescribing physician, transmission of the lethal protocol. The Catholic foundations of New York, very present in geriatrics, find themselves caught between civil law and the teaching of the Church.

The Facts

LifeSiteNews reports, on July 24, 2026, that a Catholic collective led by the Little Sisters of the Poor and Bishop John Barres of the Rockville Centre diocese has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the State of New York. The superior Mother Alice Marie Monica states: "Our vocation is to protect the elderly in need, not to refer them to suicide." The plaintiffs are asking that an exemption of conscience objection be recognized for religious institutions, arguing that the obligation to cooperate, even indirectly, with assisted suicide violates their Catholic mission and the First Amendment of the American Constitution on the free exercise of religion.

Doctrinal Analysis

Euthanasia and assisted suicide are qualified by Evangelium Vitae n° 65 (John Paul II, March 25, 1995) as "serious violations of the law of God." The declaration Iura et Bona (Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, May 5, 1980) states unambiguously that "nothing and no one can authorize the giving of death to an innocent human being." Samaritanus bonus (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, July 14, 2020) specifies the obligation made to Catholic health institutions: they cannot, under any pretext, cooperate even materially with euthanasia or medically assisted suicide, without betraying their very identity. The Catechism n° 2277 confirms.

Stakes for the Church and the Faithful

What the American federal courts will say about this exemption will weigh beyond the United States. An unfavorable precedent would open the way, in France as in Canada or Belgium, to similar lawsuits. The aid to dying voted in France on July 15, 2026 already casts the same institutional threat on the French Little Sisters of the Poor and Catholic hospital foundations.

Critical Reading and Blind Spots

The First Amendment offers the plaintiffs a more favorable legal ground than in Europe. Two recent precedents frame the case. In 2014, the Burwell v. Hobby Lobby ruling recognized the right of closed businesses to object to the contraceptive mandate of the Affordable Care Act. In 2020, the Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania ruling confirmed their exemption. The current composition of the Supreme Court makes a favorable outcome conceivable, but euthanasia is not contraception: the issue is vital and not only moral. Blind spot: the major Protestant denominations in New York do not join the action, leaving the Catholic Church alone to bear the institutional battle.

To Ponder and Act

Give thanks for the Little Sisters of the Poor, often on the front lines, pray for the outcome of the proceedings, support the French Catholic foundations that will face the same legal battle tomorrow.