Posted on 02/26/2008 9:36:56 PM PST by Coleus
If Gov. Spitzer really wants to make abortion "safe, legal and rare," as he said during his campaign, then he has a strange way of showing it. He's pushing a bill that goes to great lengths - some would say extreme lengths - to enshrine abortion as a "fundamental right" in state law, just in case the Supreme Court overturns Roe vs. Wade at some point in the future. But abortion is already plenty legal in New York, no matter what the Supreme Court does. It's also safe and readily available, especially in New York City.
Rare, it most definitely is not. New York is the abortion capital of the nation. Our annual abortion rate of 38 per 1,000 women of childbearing age is the highest of any state and twice the national average. New York has a proud history as the first state to legalize the procedure in 1970. Acting three years before Roe vs. Wade, New York lawmakers recognized women's right to control their own bodies and saved many from bleeding to death in back alleys.
But the fact that one in three New York pregnancies ends in abortion - a rate far higher than elsewhere in the developed world - is nothing to be proud of. Bringing that number down is a goal that all New Yorkers, anti-abortion and pro-choice, can get behind. Spitzer's bill does nothing to make that happen. Instead, his proposal consists of symbolic and ideologically driven changes that are guaranteed to polarize New Yorkers - and unlikely to become law.
Drafted at the behest of pro-choice activists, the Reproductive Health and Privacy Protection Act contains sweeping language declaring that women have a "fundamental right" to terminate their pregnancies - including in the third trimester, if necessary to protect the life or health of the mother. The bill also takes out any reference to the unborn child as a "person" - a change that will strike many New Yorkers as callous.
And if someone attacks a pregnant woman, and kills her baby in the process, his crime will be redefined as an assault on the mother rather than a homicide. These steps might comfort pro-choice activists. But they won't improve sex education in schools or encourage sexually active New Yorkers to use birth control. They won't even make it easier to get abortions in New York - because it can't be much easier than it already is. New York imposes no waiting periods or parental notice requirements. It has plenty of abortion providers by national standards, and it's one of the few places where new ones are opening. And if a women can't afford to terminate her own pregnancy, the state Medicaid program will pick up the tab.
As NARAL Pro-Choice New York spokeswoman Mary Alice Carr acknowledged to me yesterday, the practical effect of passing Spitzer's bill would be "next to nil" in the short term. So why push it, then? Clearly, Spitzer wants to be a champion of reproductive rights - and make anti-abortion Senate Republicans squirm. All the governor is likely to accomplish in the process is lengthening his enemy list. The Catholic Church is particularly outraged at a clause that forbids the state from "discriminating" against abortion rights in its laws and regulations. The church fears that this could lead the state to yank the licenses of Catholic health care providers who refuse to perform abortions.
Even some of Spitzer's fellow Democrats think he goes too far in ruling out any restrictions on abortion. "If the intended goal of this legislation is to make abortion 'safe, legal and rare,' we do not believe it meets its objectives," Bronx Assemblyman Michael Benjamin, who calls himself pro-choice, wrote in a letter co-signed by eight other Democrats. Instead of using abortion as a wedge issue, Spitzer should focus on the goal that all New Yorkers have in common - which is making abortion uncommon. whammond@nydailynews.com
nyc = the no time limit baby murdering capital of the world.
“Though Mother & Father forsake me, the Lord will take me up’’
—Psalm 27:10
“But the fact that one in three New York pregnancies ends in abortion...”
Holy crap, that’s so much worse than I thought. There must be a lot of women with issues running around NY.
New York is due more punishments. Sorry.
It is sad that that verse is so appropriate today. Not only for aborted babies, but for the neglected and abused kids out there.
Jeez...
I didn’t think it was that bad. Makes me think about the girls I used to hang out with when I lived in Brooklyn. Not in bad terms.
You are damn right there are. If you ever watch “Mad About You” that’s a mild slice of female life there.
I tremble to think that God is just. We as a nation better make things right.
I grew up on LI in the 90’s. Abortion was discussed in high school like it was just another solution to a problem the unlucky girls got. But you felt like an idiot saying the word “God”.
Moving to the South was the best thing I ever did.
We can. Christians can ask for forgiveness for our sins and the country’s sins. Non-christians cannot do anything to make things right. It’s up to praying Christians to fill the gap.
thanks, bfl
I pray every day.
I rememeber Getting Spit on By The Guys Escorting their Girl Friend to get an Abortion at 7am on a Saturday at 15 and Locust.. or The Homosexual lovebirds driving By and asking us for an Order of Baby Back Ribs to go...
watching a Group of Deathscorts Screaming at us at the Top of their Lungs while we prayed the Rosary... quite easy to see the Devil in their Eyes... unfortunately..
I didn’t know if you had seen this one.
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