Where this was said
Hochul on Opposition, Catholic Pushback, and Personal Liberty
At 17:10 · chapter starts 16:10
Even before the law has taken effect, Hochul has faced intense backlash from the Catholic Church — priests preaching against her from pulpits, bulletins distributed during Mass. She notes the irony of her own Catholic upbringing: she was raised in a family that protested the Vietnam War, marched for farm workers' rights, and followed priests who led social movements. That tradition of social justice Catholicism, she argues, is entirely consistent with legislating compassion at the end of life. When Dubner raises the potential tension between her support for MAID and the Church's positions on abortion and gay marriage — all rooted in a similar logic of bodily autonomy — Hochul deflects: she doesn't judge people for theological inconsistency, and she identifies as a 'cafeteria Catholic' in good company. More substantively, she frames the signing as an act of personal liberty: her views as governor cannot dictate what happens for 20 million people with different opinions [1] — Kathy Hochul "My views cannot dictate what happens for 20 million people who may have a different opinion. That is that personal liberty that I don't thi…" 17:10 . She also addresses the concern about unintended consequences — particularly the parallel between MAID and suicide prevention spending — by pointing to how narrowly tailored the law is, requiring both a physician and a mental health professional to confirm a 6-month prognosis.
