New York State Right to Life Response to the Resignation of the State Commissioner of Health, Nirav Shah

The NYS Right to Life Committee is relieved that the State Commissioner of Health, Nirav Shah, has stepped down in the face of criticism from pro-life groups and from the Republican candidate for Governor, Rob Astorino that the safety of women has been sacrificed to protect the abortion industry.

According to the records obtained by the Chiaroscuro Foundation by a Freedom of Information request, only 17 of the 225 abortion clinics in New York State were inspected over the last 13 years. And the names of the clinics that have been inspected are not available to the public.

The silence from our Governor and other Democratic leaders has been deafening. With few exceptions, like Sen. Diane Savino and Sen. Rev. Ruben Diaz, there has been no sense of outrage from those who claim to be the great defenders of women.  

In fact, it is they who wage a “war on women” by ignoring the complications of abortion and then ignoring the lack of standards of care in the abortion clinics. (And by refusing to pass a ban on sex-selective abortion.)

Despite the horrors that were uncovered during the Gosnell trial last year and the revelations by Live Action, a pro-life organization that recorded abortion clinic workers in New York State telling people posing as a pimp and a prostitute how to get abortions for underage girls, neither the Governor nor the State Health Commissioner has taken any action.

The tired claim that the neo-feminist abortion defenders are the champions of women just gets more absurd by the day. True feminism rejects any form of violence against women and children.

Now, we will see if Governor Cuomo steps up and calls for compliance with basic health safety standards for abortion clinics or continues to act as their defender in chief.