Governor Wormtongue and the Trouble With Jesuits, Part 73

The Governor graduated from Fordham University, a Jesuit institution.  He is divorced and lives with his girlfriend.

The New York State Senate passed the Reproductive Health Act (RHA) this evening by a vote of 38-24, on the 46th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, which found that a woman has a constitutional right to abortion. The bill already passed the state assembly by a 92-47 vote.

Once signed by Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo, who has long pushed for expansive abortion-rights legislation, the bill will expand the state’s already liberal abortion regime to allow late-term abortions when “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.”

 

The legislation provides a further exception to permit abortion at any point during pregnancy if a health-care practitioner deems it necessary for the mother’s life or health — the exception that was defined in Roe companion case Doe v. Bolton as “all factors — physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman’s age — relevant to the wellbeing of the patient.” In other words, abortion will be available to women essentially on demand up to the point of birth. The RHA will also decriminalize abortion, moving it from the state’s criminal code to the public-health code.

From a 2014 article...

When Andrew Cuomo was running for governor in 2010, he claimed time and again that he wanted to represent and fight for all the people of New York – all, that is, except Catholics.

Since taking office in 2011, Cuomo, who was baptized a Catholic, graduated from Archbishop Molloy H.S. in Queens County and Fordham University, has been hell-bent on offending Catholics and dismissing their beliefs in the public square.

Cuomo’s first assault was on Catholic teaching that marriage is between a man and a woman. He was embarrassed that his state had been “surpassed by many other countries which have legalized same-sex marriage including the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Norway, Sweden and Portugal; as well as by many states.”  “Marriage equality,” he declared, “is a question of principle and the state shouldn’t discriminate against same-sex couples who wish to get married.”  He promised to “fight to make sure all couples have equal marriage rights under the law.”

To impose his will on practicing Catholics, Jews, and Muslims, Cuomo ruthlessly used the powers of his office.  He bought off several wavering Republican State Senators – sadly, all baptized Catholics – with promises of appointments if voters should turn them out of office.  

 New York, the abortion capital of America – 37.6 percent abortions per 1,000 pregnancies versus 19.6% nationally – has had the nation’s most liberal statute on the books since 1970.  If Roe v. Wade were suddenly overturned, it would have no impact on the state.