After years of working to protect unborn human beings from being legally killed, there is little that continues to startle me that pro-abortion supporters can come up with, but the New York Times was able to shock me this week.
If their intention was to offend and insult the intelligence of every New York woman, and every individual who possesses basic decency, then they truly succeeded. But my supposition is that they would be surprised to hear such a response. More than likely, they are so entrenched in their own vacuum of pro-abortion groupthink, they don’t even recognize the, frankly, cruel conclusions at which they have arrived.
In their editorial of 11/10, the New York Times Editorial Board laid down the law for newly-reelected Governor Cuomo’s second term. The second point of their list of priorities? That he should continue, even with the newly-elected pro-life majority in the state senate, to push for all ten planks of his “Women’s Equality Act.”
It should be noted that it is only one plank- the 10th, which would enshrine third trimester abortion into New York State law, and allow non-doctors to perform abortions- which has caused any controversy. The other nine enjoy wide support throughout the state and the legislature.
But, even in New York, the abortion-expansion point is so unpopular on it’s own(as evidenced by a poll last year commissioned by the Chiaroscuro Foundation showing that 80% of New Yorkers oppose unlimited abortion through all nine months, and 75% oppose changing the requirement that a doctor perform abortions) that the only chance the governor and his pro-abortion allies would have at passing it is to shackle it to other pieces of popular, and important, legislation.
So vital are these other pieces, that even staunch pro-abortion advocates have broken away saying that, at the very least, we must pass stronger protections for victims of human trafficking. Even they realized how tone-deaf they appeared to have the gall to say they stood for “women’s rights” while allowing these important protections to languish in the legislature, hostage to an unrelated abortion-expansion bill.
Despite even those outcries, the Assembly leadership has refused to consider the 10 points individually. A thinking, compassionate, person might wonder why this could be. Thankfully, we have the New York Times to explain it to us (emphasis mine):
“Second, Mr. Cuomo has put women’s rights high on his agenda, and it should stay there. His package of proposals — and he should continue to demand the whole package, not pieces of it — includes stronger human trafficking laws, new protections for victims of domestic violence, protection of students from sexual violence on campuses and pay equity for women. The most important piece would protect a woman’s right to choose, a state effort to reinforce the rights provided by the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade.”
MORE IMPORTANT than stronger human trafficking laws. MORE IMPORTANT than new protections for victims of domestic violence. MORE IMPORTANT than protection of students from sexual violence on campuses.
The MOST IMPORTANT bill related to women’s rights is to enshrine the right to kill a fully-formed human baby for any reason. You should be appalled; but you shouldn’t be surprised.
For two years these protections have sat in the legislature, unmoving while the Senate refused to expand abortion in a state that already has the illustrious title of the abortion capital of the country. For two years the assembly has sat on legislation that would actually protect women who are at-risk, and they have been allowed to control the narrative that those of us who would protect women at ALL stages are somehow waging a war.
If the mid-term results didn’t bury that ridiculous catchphrase, I don’t know what will. But it’s time to take this conversation back. If you don’t agree with the New York Times that killing a baby in the third-trimester of pregnancy is MORE IMPORTANT than protecting victims of human trafficking, join with me in doing something about it. New York State Right to Life is working to get the word out about this horrifying sentiment and make sure that their editorial board can no longer ignore how out of touch they are with their readers.
Will you take 30 seconds and send a tweet @nytimes with something #moreimportant than abortion? Make a difference and send a message. But also send a letter to the editor to their board respectfully stating that women’s equality doesn’t- and shouldn’t- require killing our children.
It’s clearly an idea they’ve never heard before.
LifeNews Note: Jessica Rodgers is the legislative director for New York State Right to Life.
