Once upon a time, people who called themselves “pro-choice” insisted that nobody is really in favor of abortion, but rather they see it as a sad necessity for women who are forced to deal with an unwanted pregnancy. We even heard from President Clinton—and the First Lady—that they thought that abortion should be “safe, legal and rare”. These attitudes reflected the ambivalence of ordinary Americans about abortion. While most people support legal abortion in some cases, most actually oppose it and would impose restrictions on it in most cases
While the ambivalence of Americans remains, the reticence of abortion rights supporters is long gone. The leading lights of that movement are revealing their true beliefs that abortion is a positive good that is not to be regretted but rather is to be celebrated. We are at the point where there is a virtual idolatry of abortion, where it is seen as a sine qua non for the active participation of women in society
The nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court has been the catalyst for an astonishing amount of overheated rhetoric about abortion. We’ve seen claims that his confirmation will lead to the deaths of women, and even the display of the mythical coat-hanger meant to evoke illegal and dangerous abortions that are supposedly just around the corner. The fear-mongering will undoubtedly get even worse once the Senate convenes its confirmation hearings
The most notable practitioner of waving the bloody shirt has been our Governor. His devotion to legalized and unrestricted abortion is long-standing, and his preference for outrageous rhetoric is well known. This is the man who once said that pro-lifers “have no place in the state of New York, because that’s not who New Yorkers are.”n
He is now on the campaign trail pushing for the State Legislature to return to Albany for a special session to “codify Roe v. Wade” in state law. He recently made the bizarre statement that “If Roe v. Wade is overturned, women lose their right to choose in the state of New York today”. He must expect that nobody will actually fact-check him and realize that he is just making things up. The reality is that New York already has one of the most liberal abortion laws in the nation, one that pre-dates Roe and which permitted thousands of abortions prior to Roe. Abortion is available on demand, for any reason whatsoever, at any time prior to 24 weeks of pregnancy, and afterwards if the life of the mother is at risk. Overturning Roe will have no effect whatsoever on that—the vast majority of abortions will still be legal in New York
The only way that the Governor’s statement makes any sense is when we realize that Roe was the high-point of abortion jurisprudence. It legalized late-term abortion to preserve a woman’s health—a term the Supreme Court defined so broadly that it means any reason whatsoever—and it was used by courts to strike down virtually all regulations on abortion at any stage of pregnancy. So what the Governor is really advocating for is unrestricted abortion and particularly late-term abortions on demand
And that’s precisely what the Governor’s own abortion expansion bill would do. Back in 2013, the Governor introduced a radical bill as part of his “Women’s Equality Act” that would: expand the availability of late-term abortions on demand; permit non-doctors to do abortions, including late-term abortions; virtually eliminate the ability of the State or local governments to regulate the practice of abortion; immunize from criminal prosecution any person who directly tries to cause the death of an unborn child (e.g., in a domestic violence incident); and severely limit criminal prosecutions of unlicensed “back-alley” abortionists (which is ironic, given all the rhetoric about going back to the days of illegal abortions). That’s not a “pro-choice” bill, it’s the abortion industry’s wish list
The Governor has also made the deeply weird statement that he will sue somebody for something in some court somewhere if the Supreme Court overturns Roe, and that’s why he really needs the Legislature to pass his abortion expansion bill now. I must have missed the class in law school where that makes any sense at all. Perhaps when the Governor was in law school he missed the class where they taught that the Supreme Court is the highest court in the nation, that there is no appeal to another court from its rulings, and that lower courts cannot overrule a Supreme Court decision
The Governor also doesn’t seem to realize that Roe v. Wade is no longer the controlling law when it comes to abortion. In 1992, the Supreme Court decided the case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which permitted much more regulation of abortion than Roe did. By expressing his preference for the Roe legal standard, the Governor shows that he is out of step with public opinion, which supports many limitations on abortions, especially late-term abortions, and that he wants New York to have the most extreme abortion law possible
Our Governor is not the only one who is going to such extremes. Many pundits and leaders of the Democratic Party are just as far out there. This is becoming clearer and clearer, and by the end of Judge Kavanaugh’s Senate auto da fe, it will be undeniable
Perhaps the clearest example of how the pro-abortion movement has come to idolize abortion took place on late-night television recently. An unfunny comedienne staged a bizarre and crude “Salute to Abortion” that celebrated the unlimited right to destroy unborn children. “Progressive” pundits applauded, and politicians who publicly recoil from every incontinent tweet from the President were nowhere to be found or heard from
There’s a reason for that. The ideology of abortion has reached the point in certain precincts in America where its adherents have turned it into a virtual idol. This is why we must continue to oppose the Governor’s radical abortion bill, and any effort to extend legal protection to the killing of unborn human beings