It wasn’t enough for radical New York leftist Governor Andrew Cuomo to champion broad new restrictions on guns; now he has set his sights on allowing late-term abortion on demand.
Cuomo’s State of the State address on January 9 contained a plea for the New York government to pass a “Reproductive Health Act.” He stated, “Protect a woman’s freedom of choice. Enact a Reproductive Health Act, because it is her body, it is her choice.”
Although Cuomo was short on details, his plans seem to be in concert with those of a bill pushed by Democratic state Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins.
What’s in Stewart-Cousins’ bill? Abortion would be legal in the last trimester if it were “necessary to protect a woman’s health.” Note that the language does not say to protect the woman’s life, but health. This broadens the prospective field of abortion-seekers considerably. Stewart, asserting that her bill is “crucial legislation,” wants the bill passed “as soon as possible’ and said it would “ensure that regardless of what takes place on the national level, a woman’s right to choose will always be protected in New York State.”
But pro-life forces are heroically fighting back, most notably the Roman Catholic Church. The New York State Catholic Conference, calling the plan “radical,” also stated that the bill would “permit unlimited late-term abortion on demand.” The Conference also noted that the “health” exception has been “broadly interpreted by the courts to include age, economic, social and emotional factors … It is an exception that will allow more third-trimester abortions in New York state.”
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, referring to New York State’s high abortion rate, said, “I am hard pressed to think of a piece of legislation that is less needed or more harmful than this one.”
The Conference also stated that the language of the bill allowed a “licensed health care practitioner” to perform abortions instead of doctors, and also said that the bill’s language established a “fundamental right” of women to decide what to do with their pregnancy, “which includes the right to carry a pregnancy to term or to terminate a pregnancy.”
Even some pro-life Democrats are upset. Democrats for Life of America, which represents the pro-life Democrats, said the bill was “the most sweeping abortion legislation in the nation” and “out of touch with the views of most Americans.”
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