New Mexico doctors who object to assisting in suicides gained new protections Tuesday when Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, signed a bill that lets medical professionals decline to participate for religious or conscience reasons.
The new measure ended a lawsuit filed by Alliance Defending Freedom on behalf of infectious disease physician Dr. Mark D. Lacy and the Christian Medical & Dental Associations, the non-profit law firm said in a statement.
The new bill amends an end-of-life “options” measure passed in 2021, which required physicians who objected to facilitating a patient’s suicide to nonetheless inform patients of that option and refer them to providers willing to cooperate.
Doctors who refused to do so, ADF said, could have faced criminal and civil liability and risked losing their medical licenses.
Mark Lippelmann, an ADF senior counsel, praised the move, saying “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,” he said.
The law firm sued the state in December 2022 over the earlier law compelling objecting physicians to make referrals. The state legislature passed the measure in March, sending it to Ms. Lujan Grisham for her signature.
A request for comment from the governor’s office by The Washington Times did not receive an immediate response.
The CMDA said its members’ “personal religious convictions and professional ethics oppose the practice of assisted suicide.”
According to Dr. Jeffrey Barrows, CMDA senior vice president of bioethics and public policy, “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.”
ADF said it filed a stipulated dismissal of the case on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court.
