Victory in New Mexico: Doctors no longer forced to help end a patient's life

After ADF attorneys file suit, state rushes to enact law allowing doctors to decline participation in assisted suicide

SANTA FE, N.M. – A few months after attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom sued the state of New Mexico for forcing doctors to facilitate physician-assisted suicide against their religious or ethical convictions, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed into law Tuesday a bill that allows 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 filed a stipulated dismissal with the court Wednesday to dismiss their lawsuit, Lacy v. Torrez.

“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,” said ADF Senior Counsel Mark Lippelmann. “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.”

Although assisted suicide violates medical ethics, New Mexico enacted the Elizabeth Whitefield End-of-Life Options Act to legalize the practice 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 faced substantial criminal, civil, administrative, and professional liability, including risking losing their medical licenses.

In December 2022, ADF attorneys filed suit against the state for requiring doctors to help end a patient’s life in ways that violated their religious and conscientious beliefs. Desiring 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 March 15, before sending it to the governor for her signature.

CMDA is a national association of conscientious Christian health care 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 joined the lawsuit.

“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.”

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.

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