Gov. Andrew Cuomo is today expected to introduce a bill that would allow abortions after 24 weeks into a pregnancy if the health of a woman is at risk. It comes as just one aspect of his 10-pronged plan to advance women's rights in such arenas as equal pay, ending discriminatory hiring practices, and strengthening order-of-protection laws that shield victims of domestic violence.
Of course, such trifles matter not to the Catholic League, which zeroed in on the abortion bill and dismissed it as "political suicide."
"Andrew Cuomo's lust for abortion rights has effectively killed his chances of ever becoming president of the United States," Catholic League President Bill Donohue wrote on the organization's website. "All the survey data in the last decade show that Americans want abortion to be legal but limited: they want it limited to exceptional cases (e.g., they oppose abortions for the sake of convenience), and they want it limited to the early stages of pregnancy." Ugh—Donohue, just go back to squabbling over "holiday" cards, Piss Christ and getting killed by Jesus.
Cuomo has indicated that the bill would not "make it easier for women to get an abortion" (because heaven forbid!), but simply codify the existing law under Roe v. Wade. A Cuomo administration official told the Wall Street Journal the bill was written to be "a real litmus test on Roe v. Wade for members of both parties, making it impossible to vote against for anyone who wants to say they support a woman's right to choose."
To his credit, Cuomo has said abortion rights are an integral part of the bill, and that he won't accept the agenda without it.
