{"id":196014,"date":"2019-02-06T21:29:36","date_gmt":"2019-02-07T03:29:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=196014"},"modified":"2019-02-06T22:41:57","modified_gmt":"2019-02-07T04:41:57","slug":"cuomo-pro-abortion-untruths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/cuomo-pro-abortion-untruths\/","title":{"rendered":"Gov. Cuomo’s pro-abortion op-ed is full of holes and untruths. Here’s why."},"content":{"rendered":"
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In today’s New York Times, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo published a stunningly misleading op-ed<\/a>. Framed as a response to President Trump’s State of the Union address, Cuomo’s op-ed argues in favor of New York’s recently passed Reproductive Health Act, one of the most sweeping pro-abortion laws in the country, and along with it argues against the very foundations of this country, with a little window-dressing of misleading statistics to boot.<\/p>\n

Cuomo starts by casting Roe v. Wade<\/em> as part of what he calls a broad and decades-long bipartisan consensus that created a \u201cconstitutional right\u201d to abortion. \u201cRoe has been repeatedly reaffirmed by the Supreme Court, in multiple decisions, as recently as 2016, and has been supported by justices selected by both Democratic and Republican presidents,” he wrote. This, however, is a common argument of pro-abortion politicians and forms a central part of their line of attack against pro-life judicial nominees in the Senate<\/a>. In reality, Roe v. Wade<\/em> was decided by a slim 5-4 majority on the Supreme Court and has been controversial ever since. Roe<\/em> negated multiple state laws prohibiting or limiting abortion. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have protested the decision annually in Washington, D.C. for 45 years. In fact, recent surveys have shown that only 12% of Americans want abortion legal and on demand<\/a>.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Four myths about New York\u2019s new abortion law\u2026 and the truth<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

New York\u2019s new abortion law \u201ccodifies existing law,” and \u201cprotects rights of its citizens,\u201d Cuomo claims. In fact, it does nothing to protect\u00a0the pregnant women who will be left more vulnerable to domestic abuse<\/a> because of this law. It does nothing for the misogynistic standards for women that cause some of them to feel their only option is killing their child.<\/p>\n

Cuomo also cites the\u00a0Planned Parenthood v. Casey<\/em>\u00a0decision,\u00a0omitting that it was also a controversial 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court. He points to Justice O\u2019Connor\u2019s ruling that \u201cconfirmed \u2018the state\u2019s power to restrict abortions after fetal viability, if the law contains exceptions for pregnancies which endanger the woman\u2019s life or health.\u2019\u201d Cuomo uses this ruling, and its exception for a woman\u2019s \u201chealth\u201d — which was expanded by Doe v. Bolton<\/em> to also broadly include “emotional” or “familial health”<\/a>\u00a0— as a basis for arguing for New York\u2019s Reproductive Health Act.<\/p>\n

Cuomo accuses \u201cMr. Trump and the religious right\u201d of \u201cspreading falsehoods about New York\u2019s law to inflame their base,\u201d but the truth is, pro-lifers have actually read the law — and it’s extreme<\/a>. But opposition to abortion really isn’t about religion. Cuomo follows in the footsteps of his father, a pro-life Catholic politician until he expediently switched positions in order to win elections<\/a>.\u00a0Cuomo pushes the “personally opposed” line of reasoning with abortion, which makes little sense at all. \u201cOnly by separating constitutional duties from religious beliefs can we have a country that allows all people the ability to pursue their own theological and moral principles in a nation true to its founding premise of religious freedom,\u201d he writes. But clearly, \u2018religious freedom\u2019 should not include killing or harming other human beings with impunity.<\/p>\n

Opposition to the killing of a viable preborn baby need not be based on religious grounds. This common pro-abortion argument ignores the medical reality of viable babies and a mother\u2019s health, which is that third-trimester abortions are never medically necessary for the health of the mother. If a baby can be delivered dead after a four-day-long abortion in the third-trimester (post 25 weeks) – which involves killing the baby\u00a0with an injection of digoxin or potassium chloride<\/a>\u00a0—\u00a0then a baby can be delivered alive and immediately<\/em> separated from his mother via a C-section.<\/p>\n

Cuomo downplays the significance of abortion on viable babies, a common argument that abortion supporters have been trotting out for quite some time. He says, \u201cThird-trimester procedures are extremely rare, making up only about 1 percent of all abortions<\/span><\/a>.\u201d Yet in a country where there are nearly a million<\/span>\u00a0abortions per year, this still means the murder of approximately 8,000 to over 12,000 babies in a procedure that is\u00a0frequently done on healthy babies<\/a>, according to Guttmacher\u2019s own data<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0It\u2019s not just New York: Here are more states with barbaric abortion laws<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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I want to clear something up so that there is absolutely no doubt.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a Board Certified OB\/GYN who has delivered over 2,500 babies.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s not a single fetal or maternal condition that requires third trimester abortion. Not one. Delivery, yes. Abortion, no.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Omar L. Hamada, MD, MBA (@OmarHamada) January 23, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n