Dear Friends of Life:

We are pleased and thankful to report that the 2013 regular legislative session has come to a close, and that late-term abortion expansion legislation has failed to pass the New York State Senate. This week our team is catching a much-needed breather after the intensity of the legislative session, but we did want to send you this brief report and our appreciation.

Last Friday, Senator Jeff Klein, leader of the Independent Democratic Conference, offered the late-term abortion expansion plank of Governor Cuomo’s Women’s Equality Act as a hostile amendment to a bill having to do with medical records. Thirty-two votes were needed to reject the amendment, and exactly thirty-two senators voted to reject the amendment. This marks the defeat of late-term abortion expansion in the 2013 regular session.   Continue reading →

A remarkable victory for unborn children and vulnerable women!  Through the brave and tireless efforts of our pro-life legislators in Albany  — and so many  people like yourselves — the bill to expand abortion in NY has been defeated.

Thank you all, and congratulations to everyone who played a role in this battle — those who bombarded our legislators with phone calls, emails, and letters, travelled to Albany to lobby or protested on Route 59, wrote to the Journal News or commented on websites,  distributed flyers and made calls and talked up the issue with friends, signed petitions and statements of principles, and those who prayed unceasingly and attended holy hours and prayer services held throughout the county.

As the NYS Catholic Conference wrote:

The result is, quite literally, the answer to prayer. More accurately, it is the answer to millions of prayers by men, women and children of every faith from every section of the state who believe in the inalienable right to life of the baby in the womb. . .

The movement to pass this bill awoke a sleeping giant, a silent pro-life majority that had been discouraged and disheartened from living in the state with the highest abortion rate in the country. Facing the most radical expansion of abortion since the state legalized it in 1970, thousands of New Yorkers contacted their legislators and made repeat trips to Albany to be a pro-life presence at the Capitol. (Complete statement here.)

Of course, this is only a battle in a longer war, and pro-abortionists are vowing to push this legislation through in the future. We must keep vigilant and informed and support the pro-life legislators whom the “pro-choice” people are threatening to take down in the next election.

But for now, praise God!

Statements, Articles,  and Comments:

• Lucy Marie, Sisters of Life, Respect Life Coordinator of the Archdiocese of New York
•  Kathleen Gallagher, NYS Catholic Conference — Explanation of what happened on last day of legislative session 
• Rev. Jason J. McGuire, New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedom (New Yorkers 4 Life) 
• How Cuomo’s Abortion Expansion Bill Was Stopped — LifeNet
• All-or-Nothing Strategy on Women’s Equality Legislation Ends With Nothing — New York Times

June 20 — Today the  NYS Assembly passed Gov. Cuomo’s Women’s Equality Act (A.8070, which includes abortion expansion) by a vote of 97 to 47.

Republican Annie Rabbitt voted against the bill — and we are grateful to her for standing strong and speaking out against it on the floor of the Assembly.

The other three representatives from Rockland voted for the bill, which will expand late-term abortion:  Democrats Ellen Jaffee, Ken Zebrowski, and James Skoufis.

During the debate, the sponsors finally admitted that the bill would allow non-physicians to perform abortions.

Speaker Silver and Women’s Coalition groups then held a celebratory news conference to put pressure on the Senate to vote on the entire package. The Governor then sent out an email to add additional pressure.

The situation in the Senate is still not completely resolved.  There are reports that abortion advocates will try to use a procedural maneuver to bring the abortion expansion proposal to the floor of the Senate.  We believe that there are enough votes to defeat this effort, and to keep the bill from even being considered.  But it will be a close call, and the change of even one vote could be decisive.

PLEASE continue to pray — and call you senator one last time and ask him to oppose the abortion provision in the Women’s Equality Act.

If you live in Haverstraw or Stony point, your senator is William Larkin. 518-455-2770.

 If you live in any other part of the county, your senator is David Carlucci.  518-455-2991

June 19 — Gov. Andrew Cuomo and groups pushing a Women’s Equality Act have decided to split the omnibus legislation into 10 component parts, essentially unhooking a controversial tweak to the state’s abortion laws from measures that ensure pay equity and combat discrimination, human trafficking and domestic violence.

It’s unclear if this maneuver, which came less than 12 hours after Cuomo’s office released an updated version of the omnibus bill, would force a Senate vote on the abortion plank.

Who Blinked?

Officially, Gov. Cuomo, NY Senate GOP Dig in Their Heels on Women’s Equality Act.

June 18 — With the Senate still holding firm and blocking Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Women’s Equality Act (WEA), a revised version has been introduced in the Assembly.  Among its several co-sponsors are Rockland’s Ken Zebrowki and Ellen Jaffe.

Recent changes to this legislation do nothing to alter the dangerous substance of the bill. A reference to the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act is meaningless, since no state law can conflict with a federal law under the U.S. Constitution Supremacy Clause. The amendment to include a 24-week viability line is hollow as well, as the bill continues to add the “anything goes” health exception, legalizing abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy for virtually any reason.

Please call/email your Assembly representative ASAP and tell them to vote NO on A.8070. This vote will take place Wednesday or Thursday.

You can use this link to send an email to your representative.

Or Call:

Ellen Jaffe: 518-455-5118
Ken Zebrowski: 518-455-5735
James Skoufis: 518-455-5441
Annie Rabbitt: 518-455-5991

This week, Governor Cuomo and the abortion industry concocted a new scheme in which they would amend the abortion expansion bill to state that partial-birth abortions would not be allowed. Abortion advocates hoped that by taking this step, they would woo Republican senators to support late-term abortion expansion.

Because the Governor’s bill has nothing to do with partial-birth abortion and the proposed amendment would be meaningless, pro-life organizations moved swiftly to oppose this strategy.

Thankfully, it appears that state senators have not been taken in by the Governor’s latest ploy, and the Albany Times-Union (no friend of the pro-life movement) reported that an “attempt to make an abortion provision more palatable to Senate Republicans sputtered through the Capitol like a loose balloon Thursday before falling flat as lawmakers scattered for the weekend.”

Albany, June 14 — As we enter the final days of the legislative session, NY senators are still standing firm against Gov. Cuomo’s abortion bill.

Facing opposition, Cuomo has agreed to add additional language to try to make the abortion plank more acceptable, but a spokeswoman for Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos said in a statement that  “nothing has changed” when it comes to the conference’s position on the abortion provision in the 10-point Women’s Equality Act (WEA).

Meanwhile, women’s groups are taking aim at Independent Democratic Conference Leader Jeff Klein (D-Bronx) and blaming him for holding up the measure.

To keep up with the proceedings as things unfold, check out the website Capital Tonight or for real-time news as it breaks follow them on Twitter @CapitalTonight.