If you saw the news about New York’s governor proposing that his state do even more late abortions, you were probably shocked, but maybe not surprised.
Shocked because New York is already considered the abortion capital of the United States. But perhaps not surprised because we’ve seen the pro-abortion movement grow even more emboldened in recent months in their advocacy of brutal late abortions.
In a recent press conference, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a potential candidate for the Democratic nomination for president in 2016, voiced his support for a new “reproductive health” law. New York currently bans abortion after 24 weeks, except to save the life of the mother. Cuomo wants to eliminate that restriction and allow abortion throughout pregnancy – up until birth – if the abortion is done for “health” reasons.
Court precedents allow the determination of what constitutes a “health” reason to reside entirely with the abortionist and those he works with. The courts have said even social or economic situations can constitute “health” reasons. In other words, a health exception would essentially mean any abortion could be done.
Because New York is a center for late abortions, it is critically important the state not eliminate its 24-week ban. A Planned Parenthood clinic there has advertised abortions up until 24 weeks. Abortion facilities might well do abortions even later for so-called “health” reasons if given the chance. In one notorious case in New York, an abortionist named Abu Hayat severed the arm of an unborn baby girl who was well over 24 weeks. The girl, Ana Rosa Rodriquez, survived the abortion, but Hayat was convicted and sentenced to prison. Yet Cuomo would remove even the minimal protection for unborn babies in state law that led to his conviction.
Instead of expanding access to late abortions, New York and other states should be working to protect more unborn babies against them. Although the U. S. Supreme Court will not yet let states ban all abortions, there is a movement in state legislatures to ban abortions when the baby is capable of feeling pain, which occurs well before 24 weeks. Seven states have now enacted some form of the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act and more states are expected to pass such laws this year.
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But the pro-abortion movement is attacking even these compassionate laws. Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection laws in Georgia and Idaho have been challenged in court by pro-abortion advocates, including the American Civil Liberties Union.
In addition to the court challenges, some states have to fight pro-abortion governors to protect these unborn children, governors such as New York’s Cuomo and Minnesota’s pro-abortion Gov. Mark Dayton, who vetoed a pain-capable unborn child protection bill his state passed in 2011. National Right to Life created this groundbreaking model legislation to prevent abortions when babies are developed enough to feel pain.
We can pass these laws in more states, if we have your help.
LifeNews Note: Carol Tobias is the president of the National Right to Life Committee.
