New York will become the 12th state in the nation to pass a form of physician-assisted suicide if Gov. Kathy Hochul opts to sign the bill.

On Monday, after hours of largely partisan debate, the state Senate passed the so-called, “Medical Aid in Dying Act," which allows a person of sound mind and with an irreversible terminal illness to end their own life by taking a cocktail of physician-prescribed drugs. 

The Senate sponsor of the bill, state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, compared passage of the bill to some other historic legislation, including the Marriage Equality Act which passed in 2011.

As someone who has covered this bill for 10 years, I can attest that there has been tremendous passion and empathy shown by advocates on both sides of this issue.

I remember an emotional conversation with the father of Ayla Eilert a few years ago. She was an aspiring ballet dancer in New York City, who, at the age of 23, was diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma in her head and neck, an aggressive form of cancer.

According to her dad, Daren Eilert, no amount of morphine could ease Ayla’s pain. Daren and his wife had to watch helplessly as their daughter begged to die, and ultimately did die, in tremendous pain. I would think that this bill is an important victory for people like the Eilert family.

On the other side of the issue, there were advocates with strong religious convictions who spoke from the heart about why they were against the bill. There were lawmakers who weren’t convinced the guardrails around the bill were strong enough. And there were members of the disability rights community who expressed a fear that exhausted caregivers might goad people with disabilities into taking the medicine. Or conversely, that people with profound disabilities who feel they’ve become a burden to their families would seek out the pills.

Last year, the director of advocacy with the New York Association on Independent Living asked a profound question on Capital Tonight: “Is this really a choice?” Alex Thompson asked. “We’ve seen in Canada and other places where this is legalized, where instead of people being offered support to be in the community and still have a level of autonomy, they are offered assisted suicide.”

Lawmakers are occasionally asked to weigh deep philosophical questions around profound issues. They are expected to answer questions as impossible as: “Will you allow someone to die with minimal pain or are you promoting state-sanctioned suicide?”  “Are you going to stand up for true love, or is that turning your back on traditional values?” There is no right or wrong answer.

Whatever side you may fall on this issue, after 10 years, the system worked. The debate happened. Advocates on all sides of the issue were heard. The lawmakers, as Hoylman-Sigal stated, did the soul-searching.

I hope that if problems around the bill crop up, lawmakers will take up reforms with the same deep sense of responsibility.