New York Legalizes Abortion Up Until Birth
Democrat legislators sign new bill into law allowing abortion to take place up until birth
By: Jay Greenberg |@NeonNettle
The world is reeling in horror this week after Democratic lawmakers signed a new bill into law on Tuesday, officially legalizing abortions being performed right up until birth in New York.
The Reproductive Health Act passed on Tuesday evening in a 38-24 vote and was signed into law by NY Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY).
According to a reporter from New York Public Radio, someone yelled, “May almighty God have mercy on this state!” as the Senate vote was confirmed.
Democratic legislators legalized abortion up until the moment a child is born by removing the fatal procedure from the state’s criminal code altogether when they passed the euphemistically named Reproductive Health Act.
© pressThe legislation erases the current limitation on abortion in the state, which was previously set at 24 weeks.
The Reproductive Health Act states, “every individual who becomes pregnant has the fundamental right to choose to carry the pregnancy to term, to give birth to a child, or to have an abortion.”
A baby can now be killed in the womb up to birth in order “to protect the patient’s life or health,” so long as a licensed practitioner acts in “good faith” while performing the procedure.
Notably, the specific definition of the word “health” is not defined within the legislation.
“A health care practitioner licensed, certified, or authorized under title eight of the education law, acting within his or her lawful scope of practice, may perform an abortion when, according to the practitioner’s reasonable and good faith professional judgment based on the facts of the patient’s case: the patient is within twenty-four weeks from the commencement of pregnancy, or there is an absence of fetal viability, or the abortion is necessary to protect the patient’s life or health,” the legislation reads.
The bill was scheduled to pass in the state legislature on Tuesday to commemorate the 46th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.
“This is only the beginning of the protections that we will have for our women, for our environment, criminal-justice reform, education — the list goes on,”Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) told The Democrat & Chronicle, reports FaithWire.
“But in January, the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we will make our statement, we will make our mark.”
“The bill also removes abortion from the definition of homicide, and from the penal code entirely,” the Times Union reports.
“Opponents say this limits prosecutors when they look to charge individuals who harm a woman’s unborn child in a domestic violence case or otherwise.
“Supporters say, in such cases, there remain plenty of other, much harsher criminal charges at prosecutors’ disposal.”
© pressThe bill was predicted to pass due to Democrat support, which included backing from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY), a Catholic, who has been campaigning for the new legislation with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Cuomo was expected to sign the legislation after a majority vote with little opposition since New York Republicans lost control of the Senate in November.
“As many of you know, the Governor is pushing again for abortion through birth and even after with so-called ‘Reproductive Health Act.’ Now he has an anti-Life Democrat-led Senate to help him get it through,” said pro-life group New York State Right to Life via a Facebook post.
Cuomo infamously said, in 2014, that pro-lifers have no place in the state:
“Who are they?” Cuomo asked rhetorically while complaining about opposition to the anti-Second Amendment SAFE Act during a radio interview.
“Are they these extreme conservatives who are right-to-life, pro-assault-weapon, anti-gay? Is that who they are?
“Because if that’s who they are and they’re the extreme conservatives, they have no place in the state of New York, because that’s not who New Yorkers are.”
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