WASHINGTON — A group of pro-life Democrats is protesting radical abortion legislation in New York, as well as assertions that there is no place for them in the Democratic Party.
“New York women do not actually need greater access to abortion, but a more supportive system to allow real choice, should they want to bring their pregnancies to term,” said Democrats for Life of America in a Jan. 17 statement.
“Looser abortion restrictions will do nothing to help women who feel financially strapped or who lack family support and often turn to abortion as a last resort,” the group added.
The statements come in response to the reintroduction of New York’s Reproductive Health Act to the state Senate. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is Catholic, has supported the measure as part of a larger plan to advance “women’s equality” within the state.
Democrats for Life also voiced strong objections to New York state Sen. Jeff Klein’s suggestion that in order to be a true Democrat one must support the abortion expansion.
“It is clear that Sen. Klein does not fully understand the importance of diversity within our party, the strength of a big-tent policy or the real needs of women,” the organization said, noting that “there are 21 million Democrats who self-identify as pro-life.”
The statement pointed to Gallup polls in recent years showing that 84% of Democrats support informed-consent laws and 61% support parental-consent requirements for minors seeking abortions.
A majority of Democrats also supported a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion and a ban on partial-birth abortions.
Almost No Restrictions
Democrats for Life rejected the proposed “reproductive health” bill, calling it the “most sweeping abortion legislation in the nation.”
The group explained that the bill would allow abortions throughout all nine months of pregnancy for virtually any reason with almost no restrictions.
Many of the potentially far-reaching consequences of the legislation are due to provisions that circumvent abortion limitations when necessary to protect a woman’s health.
In the historic Doe v. Bolton case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that “health of the mother” provisions can include nearly any justification for abortion, including stress, morning sickness or a general decrease in quality of life.
Critics of the bill argue that this would result in nearly unrestricted abortions in the state, allowing late-term abortions, permitting non-doctors to perform abortions and rendering abortion limitations meaningless.
Concerns have also been raised over the bill’s conscience protections, which may be too narrowly crafted to allow hospitals and clinics to continue receiving state funds if they refuse to perform abortions.
The proposed legislation would also change the state’s definition of manslaughter so that it would no longer apply if a woman were killed from an abortion.
Democrats for Life criticized these radical aspects of bill, arguing that they are “out of touch with the views of most Americans, out of touch with the views of most Democrats and could hamper real reform for women’s rights.”
“New York City has the highest abortion rate in the nation, with 40% of pregnancies ending in abortion,” the organization pointed out. “Among non-Hispanic blacks, 60% of pregnancies end in abortion, and, among non-Hispanic black teens, that number grows to 72%.”
“Even a majority of pro-choice women believe the abortion rate is too high,” the group said. “How will greater access and less-safe abortions help women?”
Comments
Post a Comment
“Pro-Life Democrats”. I’m confused…........
From a Catholic Republican ( 47 years ). The liberal democrats have never been for the Catholic Church or christian values and they have never helped the poor or minorities. Which party appoints the liberal judges to our courts ? Which party has kept the minorities in slavery to the goverment ? Which party has forced the schools , the police Dept, the Military, and industry to lower their standards to accomodate the fat and lazy ? I am in a town that is 70 % minority and we have the Glen Mary priest here and they are so liberal that I travel 35 miles to go to church.You deserve what ever happens because you beleived that the democrats were for the poor ??
It appears that none of these “Democrats for Life” are in the New York General Assembly or NY Government.
One of them is Bart Stupak who voted for the Obamacare law.
When these ‘Democrats for Life’ start calling for the public excommunication of those “Catholic” politicians who obstinately violate the non-negotiable teachings of the Church which causes grave SCANDAL - that will be a good day.
Regarding ‘Catholic’ politicians who obstinately violate the non-negotiable Church teachings of - abortion, same-sex marriage, embryonic stem cell research, or euthanasia - they need to be publically excommunicated (ab homine).
- - - ” Can. 1399 In addition to the cases established here or in other laws, the external violation of a divine or canonical law can be punished by a just penalty only when the special gravity of the violation demands punishment and there is an urgent need to prevent or repair scandals. ” - - -
- - - CCC: ” 2286 Scandal can be provoked by laws or institutions, by fashion or opinion.
Therefore, they are guilty of scandal who establish laws or social structures leading to the decline of morals and the corruption of religious practice,
or to social conditions that, intentionally or not, make Christian conduct and obedience to the Commandments difficult and practically impossible.
This is also true of business leaders who make rules encouraging fraud, teachers who provoke their children to anger, or manipulators of public opinion who turn it away from moral values. ” - - -
Its time for US Bishops to actively address SCANDAL which leads to RELATIVISM and confusion within the Church.
The silence of US Bishops on SCANDAL is deafening, and the crimes of these politicans against the innocent is allowed to stand in the eyes of the public - both Catholic and non-Catholic.
From personal experience, most Democrats in NY are blue collar and/or low-income. These are also relatively conservative - limited government in the affairs of small businesses (e.g., bodegas, car services, cleaning services), limited taxation, strong & supportive families and communities, religious. They, also, vote for Democrats who are insanely non-conservative. Why? (1) Those candidates market themselves as conservatives (at the same time “fighting” for the “community’s” “fair share” of government funds). (2) The GOP, Conservative Party and right-leaning groups have not presented themselves to these Democrats as alternatives. In other words, these voters have nowhere else to go, in their minds. (3) Those who are low-income are happy-go-lucky because they don’t feel any tax bite; as a matter of FACT, they receive quite a few credits and the Earned Income Credit around this time of year, which means they feel like, accurately, that the government is giving them a lot of money. (I’m sure there are other reasons, but these two are based on my personal observations and experience.)
“The group explained that the bill would allow abortions throughout all nine months of pregnancy for virtually any reason with almost no restrictions.”
Do these lawmakers ever think of the doctors when they enact this kind if legislation? Would they like to perform an abortion on a baby that was three, four months away from being born? Would they like to pull dismembered baby parts out of a woman? And if not, how can they ask their doctors to perform such an atrocity?
New York is a one-party state. The only elections that matter, which actually select the candidate who will take office, are Democratic party primaries. Anybody with any sort of political aspirations would naturally become a Democrat.
Well, I personally feel that the legislation of the abortion issue is not that good of a law. It is quite a sensitive topic to be discussed about openly, what more have it implemented as part of the legislative system. I do not need to be a lawyer to briefly digest the ongoing debate on this topic. I am with the pro-life democrats on this one.
Post a Comment
By submitting this form, you give The National Catholic Register permission to publish this comment. Comments will be published at our discretion, and may be edited for clarity and length. For best formatting, please limit your response to one paragraph and don't hit "enter" to force line breaks.
The time period for commenting on this article has expired.