She’s Kathy Kevorkian.

Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday she’ll sign a controversial doctor-assisted suicide bill – capping a years-long battle over making New York a state that allows terminally ill people to take their own lives.

Many religious leaders and disability advocates quickly condemned Hochul’s decision to approve the Medical Aid in Dying Act, while the governor cast it as civil rights issue on par with gay marriage.

“The Medical Aid in Dying Act will afford terminally ill New Yorkers the right to spend their final days not under sterile hospital lights but with sunlight streaming through their bedroom window,” Hochul wrote in a Times Union op-ed outlining her decision.

“The right to spend their final days not hearing the droning hum of hospital machines but instead the laughter of their grandkids echoing in the next room. The right to tell their family they love them and be able to hear those precious words in return.”

New York will become the 14th state to allow what proponents call “death with dignity” once Hochul signs the law.

When enacted, the law will put oversight of literal life-and-death decisions under the state’s Department of Health – an agency that presided over a scandal-plagued Medicaid homecare program and went along with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s disastrous COVID nursing home order. 

A highly contentious fight led up to the bill’s razor-thin passage by the state Legislature in June, with the Catholic Church, disability advocates and black and Jewish lawmakers pitted against it.

The thread binding the ideologically diverse chorus of opponents together was a shared concern that the bill would tell – and make – vulnerable New Yorkers expendable.  

“This new law signals our government’s abandonment of its most vulnerable citizens, telling people who are sick or disabled that suicide in their case is not only acceptable, but is encouraged by our elected leaders,” Cardinal Timothy Dolan said in a joint statement with New York’s bishops.

The bill requires patients to be mentally capable adults with a terminal diagnosis and six-month prognosis. They must be able to self-ingest the life-ending medication after a voluntary request.

“I was raised in a strong Catholic family, and for many, this is a moral decision, a moral judgment,” Hochul said during a press conference announcing the signing at her Manhattan office Wednesday afternoon.

“And to the members of the faith community who will not accept or understand this decision I’ve made on behalf of not myself, but 20 million New Yorkers — no one has to do this. It’s a choice,” she added.

Hochul acknowledged concerns that the original bill didn’t offer enough protections to prevent patients from being coerced into suicide.

The final bill will have changes crafted after lawmakers’ passage that:

The bill will allow individual doctors and religiously affiliated health facilities to decline to offer assisted suicide, in addition to protections for family members, caregivers and doctors, Hochul wrote.

Hochul also pointed out the legislation’s effective date has been extended to six months after her signing, to give time for regulations and training.

Hochul also pointed out the legislation’s effective date has been extended to six months after her signing, to give time for regulations and training, which will be largely determined by the state Department of Health.

“Finally, this is a right afforded to New Yorkers only,” Hochul wrote.

“These are fundamental protections to ensure vulnerable people aren’t pressured, misled or left without alternatives.”

Right-to-die supporters hailed Hochul’s decision for allowing suffering, terminally ill patients a compassionate death.

“For New Yorkers facing their final months, weeks, or days with a terminal illness, what matters most is that the option of medical aid in dying will be available,” said Kevin Díaz, president and CEO of Compassion & Choices and Compassion & Choices Action Network.

But advocates with the New York Association on Independent Living, a group that supports people with disabilities, expressed grave concerns over the law. 

They argued doctors often assume disabilities equate to a poor quality of life.

“This bill is being signed at a time when supports like home care are facing eligibility restrictions and workforce shortages” said Elizabeth McCormick, the group’s director of advocacy, in a statement.

“The truth is, no amount of safeguards can protect people with disabilities. When people cannot access the care they need to live, and feel they have no real alternatives, there is no longer a promise of “choice.””