Last Tuesday, on the anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade, legislators of New York overwhelmingly approved an expansion pertaining to current abortion laws.
The Reproductive Health Act permits late-term abortions up to birth. After it was signed into law by Governor Andrew Cuomo, social media erupted with two drastically differing opinions concerning its implications.
Although many people argue the law’s provision of abortions up to birth is essentially murder, here are some important facts to understand what this law really means.
Inclusion of Late-Term Abortions
According to Gov. Cuomo, one of the most important reasons regarding New York’s expansion of abortion law was to protect mothers’ lives.
Under New York’s Reproductive Act, abortions may be conducted after 24 weeks if the fetus is not “viable” or if the mother’s life is at stake.
A health care professional will now be able to perform an abortion when:
“According to the practitioner’s reasonable and good faith professional judgment based on the facts of the patient’s case: the patient is within twenty-four weeks from the commencement of pregnancy, or there is an absence of fetal viability, or the abortion is necessary to protect the patient’s life or health.”
Bill’s Expansion of the “Who” Behind Performing the Abortion
While advocates of the new law claim it codifies Roe v. Wade, critics stand firmly against its numerous provisions besides the inclusion of late-term abortions. According to Roe v. Wade, a licensed physician must perform the abortion, but this law allows physician assistants, nurse practitioners and midwives to perform abortions.
Removal of Abortion From Criminal Code
Not only does the law expand abortion timing, but it also removes abortion from New York’s criminal code. In doing so, the medical professionals performing abortions are now guaranteed protection from criminal prosecution.
Now the following language is added to the New York penal code:
“Every individual has the fundamental right to choose or refuse contraception or sterilization. Every individual who becomes pregnant has the fundamental right to choose to carry the pregnancy to term, to give birth to a child or to have an abortion, pursuant to this article.”
Now, after reading the exact facts of New York’s new law, here is what we must consider, whether we are pro-life or pro-choice:
There are children in our country––hundreds––who are greatly handicapped, physically and mentally. They have suffered severe abuse at the hands of those who were entrusted to love and raise them in their short lives.
A large majority of these children are caught up in the foster care system. They are shipped from home to home until they find foster care parents equipped to take care of them or, if they are lucky, they may find a permanent home.
If we are pro-life and we jump to raise our fists and shout loudly from the rooftops that no mother should have the right to terminate the life of her unborn child, then we must do our part. The children currently in the foster care system greatly outnumber the families who have risen to the challenge to take them in. Children with severe disabilities are far less likely to find a loving home.
Choosing to advocate for life means you cannot just sit on your hands and wait for someone else far more righteous than you to be willing to actually make a difference in the life of a neglected, abused and hurting child. There simply are not enough families who are willing to open their homes. Consequently, mothers turn to abortions.
There are mothers who find out late into pregnancy their child will face a life of intense suffering––constantly under medical supervision—and most likely will take their last breath far too early. When a mother is caught up in circumstances out of her control and does not have faith she can take care of her sick, unborn child, she should have hope in the goodness of those around her to remind her she has more than one option.
If we want to fight for the right to life, then we better be willing to open our hearts and homes. If not, then we are the worst kind of hypocrites.
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