Claims moral victory in abortion vote

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

The closest-ever State Assembly vote on the issue of partial-birth abortion has New York State Catholic Conference officials claiming a "moral victory" in the fight against the abortion procedure.

The Catholic Conference represents the state's bishops in matters of public policy.

Last week, the Assembly voted 73-71 against a "motion-to-discharge" a bill that would ban partial-birth abortion. A successful motion-to-discharge would have allowed the full Assembly to vote on banning this type of abortion without first going through review by the state Health Committee.

Although the motion-to-discharge was five votes away from the 76-vote majority needed to pass, Catholic Conference associate director Kathleen Gallagher called the margin "razor-thin" -- especially compared to a similar procedural vote in 1996, which earned just 62 pro-life votes.

Closing in

"The closeness of this vote leaves no doubt that pro-life victory is in our grasp," she told The Evangelist. "To gain nine more votes is more than I ever expected. The only thing standing between the legality and the illegality of this procedure is the Assembly vote. If we had the Assembly vote, I'm sure it would have won."

Mrs. Gallagher believes that the Assembly vote was affected by an article that appeared in The New York Times the day before the vote. In the story, aides to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver claimed that he was about to introduce his own, less restrictive ban on partial-birth abortion. Mrs. Gallagher stated that on hearing this, some lawmakers told her they would wait to "vote for Shelly Silver's bill" rather than the blanket bill in front of them -- thus swaying the vote.

"I don't think [the Silver bill] exists, at least as of now," Mrs. Gallagher added. "We [at the Catholic Conference] are not going to take a position on a New York Times story. Let us see a bill, and we'll take a position."

Push needed

Catholic Conference officials hope the slim margin of the Assembly's vote will spur grassroots pro-lifers to keep pushing the issue of a partial-birth abortion ban with legislators.

"The momentum is with us," Mrs. Gallagher said, "and we're not going to let it go. We encourage pro-life advocates to keep focusing on this issue. The closeness of the vote shows it can be done."

The upcoming "25 Years of Tears" pro-life prayer vigil and rally at the State Capitol will be a prime place to target the partial-birth abortion issue, she said, adding that legislators "are going to see that pro-life New Yorkers are not going to go away."

("25 Years of Tears," sponsored by the Christian Coalition of New York, will be held April 28, noon-2 p.m. on the steps of the Capitol. For information, call 1-888-855-9027.)

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