New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Friday signed a bill into law allowing medical aid in dying for terminally ill residents with a life expectancy of less than six months.The law includes safeguards to ensure patients are not coerced into choosing medical aid in dying and clarifies that no healthcare professional or religiously affiliated medical facility will be required to provide the service, Hochul said.Under the legislation, a mandatory waiting period of five days will apply between the writing and dispensing of a prescription. Mental health evaluations will also be required for patients seeking the aid. The option will be available only to New York residents.“Our state will always stand firm in safeguarding New Yorkers’ freedoms and right to bodily autonomy, which includes the right for the terminally ill to peacefully and comfortably end their lives with dignity and compassion,” Hochul said in a statement.In 2017, New York’s Court of Appeals rejected a lawsuit arguing that mentally competent, terminally ill patients had a constitutional right to receive prescriptions for lethal medication, ruling that doctor-assisted suicide was illegal under state law at the time.With the new law, New York joins 12 other U.S. states and the District of Columbia that permit medical aid in dying. Oregon became the first state to legalise the practice in 1994.The move was welcomed by advocacy groups, including End of Life Choices New York. Its executive director, Mandi Zucker, described the law as a “mile marker in the long and winding road towards fairness, choice, peace, and dignity for all of those watching loved ones struggle with a terminal illness.”Zucker said the organisation plans to conduct a statewide education campaign over the next six months.