Bill on abortion dropped

By KATE BLAIN- | Comments: 0 | Leave a comment

Officials at the New York State Catholic Conference had little reaction to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's dropping of a bill changing the definition of abortion to include partial-birth abortion.

Put forward by Mr. Silver (D-Manhattan) as a ban on the procedure, the bill would actually have had no effect on the number of abortions performed in New York State, since the 1973 Supreme Court decision in the case of Roe vs. Wade made present anti-abortion laws in the state unenforceable and unconstitutional.

After finding little support from either pro-life or pro-choice lawmakers, Mr. Silver announced last week that the bill would not be voted upon by the State Legislature.

Nothing bill

Kathleen Gallagher, associate director of the Conference, which represents the bishops in public policy matters, called the bill "meaningless. It would have accomplished nothing if it had been enacted into law. It was genuinely, fundamentally flawed legislation."

Since this is an election year, Mrs. Gallagher believes that the bill was "purely a political maneuver" intended "to please voters, an overwhelming number of whom wanted a ban."

Instead, the bill backfired, she said, adding: "It didn't get much support. It just got people on both sides upset."

Ban sought

The Catholic Conference hopes that the disappearance of Mr. Silver's bill will bring more support for the blanket ban on partial-birth abortions that it supports.

Mrs. Gallagher told The Evangelist that Catholics across the state are writing letters and making phone calls to thank those Assembly members who voted for a "motion-to-discharge" a bill which would have banned partial-birth abortion, and expressing their disappointment to those who voted against the motion-to-discharge. The motion failed by only a few votes.

"I think that's going to have an effect at election time," Mrs. Gallagher said. With enough pressure from constituents, she noted, legislators can be encouraged to vote for the genuine ban.

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