NM Doctors Win Big Victory in Assisted Suicide Battle: 'Every Life Is Precious'
Doctors in New Mexico have won a big victory for conscience rights. It comes just a few months after attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) sued the state for forcing doctors to facilitate physician-assisted suicide against their religious or ethical convictions.
Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed a bill into law on April 4 allowing medical professionals to decline such participation for reasons of conscience or religious beliefs.
As a result, ADF attorneys representing a New Mexico physician and the Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA) filed a stipulated dismissal with the court to dismiss their lawsuit, Lacy v. Torrez.
The plaintiffs in the case included the CMDA, a national association of conscientious Christian healthcare professionals whose personal religious convictions and professional ethics oppose the practice of assisted suicide. Dr. Mark Lacy, a member of CMDA, is a licensed physician in New Mexico who directly joined the lawsuit.
"We commend the New Mexico Legislature and Gov. Lujan Grisham for enacting this critical law to protect health care professionals who object to assisted suicide for reasons of conscience or faith," ADF Senior Counsel Mark Lippelmann said in a statement. "Dr. Lacy and the thousands of other Christian medical professionals we represent believe every life is sacred and full of inherent value, and that assisted suicide ends an innocent human life without justification. The government should never force doctors to surrender their religious, moral, and ethical convictions."
As CBN News reported in December, the complaint against the state explained that despite historic condemnations of assisted suicide, New Mexico enacted the Elizabeth Whitefield End-of-Life Options Act in 2021. The law required physicians who are conscientious objectors to facilitate suicide by informing patients about assisted suicide and referring patients to physicians and organizations who will participate in ending their lives.
If physicians declined to participate based on their religious beliefs or professional ethics, they could have been punished with substantial criminal, civil, administrative, and professional liability. They also risked losing their medical licenses.
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In order to resolve the lawsuit and protect the state's religious and conscientious medical professionals, the New Mexico Senate passed SB 471, the Refusal of End-of-Life Options Act, on March 9, and the state House unanimously passed it on March 15, sending it to the governor for her signature.
"As Christian health care professionals, it is our aim to serve every patient with excellence and compassion, as image-bearers of God," said Dr. Jeffrey Barrows, senior vice president of bioethics and public policy for CMDA. "We strive to perform our work according to the dictates of our faith and professional ethics, including the belief that every life is precious. We're grateful New Mexico quickly responded to our lawsuit by enacting protections for conscientious physicians."
