Cuomo’s Late-Term Abortion Bid Fails

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and abortion-rights allies in the New York Legislature worked for six months to set the stage for passage of his women's equality agenda, 10 planks that prominently included a bill that would  legalize late-term abortions.

The Albany Times Union reported that Cuomo’s bid failed on Friday, June 21, at 4pm, during a last-ditch effort in the New York Senate to attach an amendment legalizing late-term abortions to another bill. Republicans blocked the effort, and the legislative session ended without the passage of any part of the women's equality agenda.

"We don't have 32 pro-choice senators," state Sen. Diane Savino, a member of the Independent Democratic Conference, announced after the late-term abortion amendment failed. "I've been in the Senate nine years now: Never at any point in my career have there been 32 pro-choice senators, regardless of party."

Did the horrors of the Gosnell trial jave anything to do with Cuomo's failure? 

There will be further opportunities to test that theory in the months ahead, as the abortion-rights movement lays the groundwork for the 2014 mid-term elections and ratchets up more talk of a "war on women." 

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