The Democrat-controlled New York Legislature passed another pro-abortion bill Tuesday that creates a right to abort unborn babies for any reason up to birth in the state constitution.
Politico reports lawmakers in the Assembly and Senate gave their second and final approval of the amendment, passing it by an overwhelming majority.
To amend the New York Constitution, the language must pass the state legislature in two separate sessions and then receive a majority of voters’ approval on the ballot. Rather than place the amendment on the ballot this fall, however, lawmakers chose to wait until the presidential election in November 2024 when they expect a larger Democrat voter turnout, according to the report.
New York already allows unborn babies to be aborted for basically any reason up to birth and has some of the highest abortion numbers in the United States. The amendment would prevent future legislatures from enacting even modest protections for babies in the womb.
The amendment would add language to prohibit discrimination based on a person’s “sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes and reproductive health care and autonomy.”
The amendment does not specifically mention abortion – possibly on purpose to keep voters from realizing how extreme it is – but its supporters said keeping abortion on demand legal is their primary goal.
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“Here in New York we will never let the extremist, anti-choice agenda to prevent anyone from accessing reproductive health care,” state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said at a rally Tuesday with Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion groups, according to Politico.
State Sen. Liz Krueger, D-Manhattan, the lead sponsor of the bill, said the amendment also protects LGBTQ people, the elderly and people with disabilities from discrimination, WSKG News reports.
“Pregnancy outcomes can mean all kinds of outcomes,” Kruger said. “It can mean carrying to term with a healthy baby. It can mean miscarriage. It can mean ending a pregnancy through abortion.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul, a pro-abortion Democrat, also supported the amendment during the pro-abortion rally, bringing up “all the screaming” she had to deal with as a mother, according to the report.
“I’m the first governor in the state of New York to ever have had a pregnancy, ever raise children, ever had to go through all the screaming,” she said. “I know more than any governor before me of what it’s like to be a woman and whether someone else in Washington has the right to take away what I should be able to decide on my own.”
Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, the pro-abortion movement really has been pushing for state constitutional amendments to create a “right” to abortion in individual states. California, Michigan and Vermont passed amendments in November, and pro-abortion groups are trying to do the same in other states.
Democrat leaders in New York and other states also are dumping tens of millions of dollars into training more abortionists, creating grants for abortion facilities to increase security, paying travel expenses for women to abort their unborn babies and more.
In contrast, pro-life advocates and lawmakers are ramping up efforts to help pregnant and parenting families in need. Pregnancy resource centers and maternity homes are expanding housing, financial, material and emotional support for families, and many pro-life Republican-led states are working to expand Medicaid for new mothers and babies.
Currently, 14 states protect unborn babies by banning or strictly limiting abortions, and more are expected to do so this year.
