Posted on 06/08/2013 6:17:34 AM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
In a brazen push to make his state even more decisively the abortion capital of the United States, Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York is trying to ram through the legislature, before its June 20 adjournment, a radical expansion of the abortion license in the provisions of his Womens Equality Act.
As my Witherspoon Institute colleague Gabrielle Speach, and co-author and practicing physician Elissa Sanchez-Speach, write today at Public Discourse, Gov. Cuomos bill is an open invitation to the Kermit Gosnells of the abortion trade to move to New York and ratchet up their performance of late-term abortions on viable children. These abortions are almost never necessary for the sake of a womans life or healthone might almost strike the almost from that statement, since it is hard to envision a necessary case at alland could instead be occasions for the saving of two lives, the mothers and the childs.
Gov. Cuomo is in a war of words with the shepherd of the Church to which he putatively belongs, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, the archbishop of New York. Dolan and all the bishops of the state have joined in a statement that staunchly opposes the abortion provision in the bill because it would ease restrictions in state law on late-term abortion and runs the serious risk of broadly expanding abortion access at all stages of gestation. Moreover, the bill would, the bishops say, repeal the portion of the penal law that governs abortion policy, opening the door for non-doctors to perform abortions and potentially decriminalizing even forced or coerced abortions.
The governors response to these reasonable criticisms is to denounce opponents as extremists. When questioned about the bishops opposition, the governor is reported to have said, Their point is that they oppose abortion and think there are too many abortions. I understand that position, but I disagree with it.
Let that sink in for a moment. Forget about Bill Clintons famous (but disingenuous) safe, legal, and rare. Andrew Cuomo, whose state has an abortion rate nearly twice the national average, thinks there are not now too many abortions on his watch. The only reason to pass his bill is because you want more abortions, more easily obtained, later in pregnancy.
The bishops concern about the repeal of penal law provisions on abortionand the dangers that such repeal opens upis a valid one. Cuomos bill, which would eliminate all meaningful restrictions on post-viability abortions in New York, also contains this language:
Subdivisions two and three of section 125.05, subdivision two of section 125.15, subdivision three of section 125.20 and sections 125.40, 125.45, 125.50, 125.55 and 125.60 of the penal law are hereby repealed to the extent that they are inconsistent with this section.
What is the import of all this? You can find out by going to Article 125 of the New York Penal Law, Homicide, Abortion and Related Offenses. Check out the sections and subdivisions named in the governors bill. They constitute essentially the entirety of New Yorks present statutory restrictions on abortion. Then the question becomes, what does it mean to say they are all hereby repealed to the extent that they are inconsistent with Cuomos bill? This does not appear on its face to be an outright repeal with the stroke of a pen. Only those existing provisions found (by a judge?) to be inconsistent with the new bill would be considered repealed. But read the existing provisions, which ban late-term abortions and criminalize acts that cause the deaths of viable unborn children. Would any of them survive the hostile scrutiny of a typical liberal judge? Not on your life. Or rather, not on the nearest unborn babys life.
So it is fair to say that New Yorks whole abortion law is wiped off the slate and replaced with Cuomos bland statement that [t]he state shall not deny a womens [sic] right to obtain an abortion as established by the United States Supreme Court in the 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade. In fact, there appears to be nothing banned, not a single abortion performed by anyone that is prohibited or restricted in any way, by the governors bill.
And Andrew Cuomo has the gall to label other people extremists.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 4, 2013
STATEMENT OF THE BISHOPS OF NEW YORK STATE ON ABORTION BILLThe following is a statement of Timothy Cardinal Dolan and the Bishops of New York State:
We are profoundly distressed by the introduction of a bill in New York State today that would ease restrictions in state law on late-term abortion and runs the serious risk of broadly expanding abortion access at all stages of gestation. This legislation would add a broad and undefined health exception for late-term abortion and would repeal the portion of the penal law that governs abortion policy, opening the door for non-doctors to perform abortions and potentially decriminalizing even forced or coerced abortions. In addition, we find the conscience protection in the bill to be vague and insufficient, and we are concerned about the religious liberty of our health facilities. While the bills proponents say it will simply codify federal law, it is selective in its codification. Nowhere does it address the portions of federal laws that limit abortion, such as the ban on taxpayer funding, the ban on partial birth abortion or protections for unborn victims of violence.
As the pastors of more than 7.2 million Catholic New Yorkers, we fully oppose this measure, and urge all our faithful people to do the same, vigorously and unapologetically. We invite all women and men of good will to join in this effort and defeat this serious attempt to expand abortion availability in our state and to codify the most radical abortion proposals of any state in the nation.
We support the first nine points in the Governors agenda that enhance the true dignity of women. We commit ourselves to examining those proposals and working with the legislature on any and all efforts that help guarantee real equity for all women and men. Our position on these issues will be consistent with all the efforts of the Catholic Church throughout the world to enhance the dignity of women. The direct taking of the life of a child in the womb in no way enhances a womans dignity.
Instead of expanding abortion and making abortions even more prevalent, we would like to protect both the woman and the child in the womb. In New York, where one in every three pregnancies ends in abortion (and upwards of 6 in 10 in certain communities), it is clear that we as a state have lost sight of that childs dignity. We pledge all our efforts to defeat this proposal. We call on all pro-life New Yorkers to stand together with us and with all the leadership in Albany who share our conviction that we have no need for such a bill to become law. We need instead to enhance and promote the life and dignity of all human beings from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death.
The above letter is all fine and good, but there needs to be firm and public consequences for supposed Catholic politicians for enabling, supporting and advancing pro-abortion laws and those consequences are already on the books in Canon Law, as I've pointed out in previous posts to this thread. The Catholic faithful need to hold their Cardinals/Bishops feet to the fire to publicly uphold the laws of their Church and hold Catholic politicians accountable for their grave sins. This not only applies to Cuomo, but also Biden, Pelosi and all other supposed Catholic politicians!
The feminazis and their a$$kissers like coomo love abortion and want more of it.
When this pigs time has come, I hope it is very long and very, very painful.
What I do not understand is why Sibelius is not excommunicated.
Sebelius has been banned from receiving Communion and technically speaking, she's automatically excommunicated for supporting and expanding abortion, but there's been no public pronouncement of this excommunication. There should be! The Obama administration is waging war on Christians/Catholics who are pro-life and the cardinals and bishops should fight back by publicly excommunicating Catholic politicians and government officials who support and advance abortion!
Cardinal Dolan has decreed that Cuomo is a “Catholic in good standing”. Maybe if Cuomo actually killed the babies himself he’d fall out of the Cardinal’s favor. Ya think? Bob
“Sebelius has been banned from receiving Communion ..”
I believe this strong measure actually does fallen Catholics a favor. They need to get “hit in the head” so they realize how grave their sin is, and hopefully they eventually will make things right.
From one of my strong pro-life cyber friends:
“Call your NYS senator.. and voice your objection to the abortion expansion part of the Women’s Equality Act. If the abortion language is not removed, we want our senators to vote AGAINST the entire bill.”
Don't let the glad rags fool you. Dolan is just another Democrat Pol. A million laughs as a speaker at Communion Breakfasts. Pelosi, Biden, Cuomo will be at the rail as always.
Catholics? 53% for Obama ... same as everyone else.
I believe this strong measure actually does fallen Catholics a favor. They need to get hit in the head so they realize how grave their sin is, and hopefully they eventually will make things right.
I agree that it does fallen Catholics a favor and it's the Cardinals and Bishops jobs to remind people, sometimes in a strong way and it's within their authority to do so!
Don't let the glad rags fool you. Dolan is just another Democrat Pol. A million laughs as a speaker at Communion Breakfasts. Pelosi, Biden, Cuomo will be at the rail as always.
Catholics? 53% for Obama ... same as everyone else.
I know and I'm very disheartened by the fact that a majority of Catholics voted for pro-death Obama. Same goes for Cuomo in New York. Outside of the letters, it seems like Dolan and the others chum around with these Catholic pro-death politicians and that's wrong!
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