A battle ahead for the pro-life movement in New York

Pro-life bills spiked. Pro-life assembly incumbents defeated. Physician-assisted suicide stalled, but for how long?

This was a difficult year for the pro-life movement in New York State and Albany and that rough road is likely to continue into 2021.

“It bears repeating to Catholics and all who believe in the sacredness of human life: elections have consequences,” said Kathleen Gallagher, director of Pro-Life Activities for the New York State Catholic Conference. “It is so important for Catholics to research the candidates and their positions on critical issues prior to forming their consciences and casting their votes.”

In July, a number of pro-life bills were killed in the New York State Assembly Committees. These bills included: parental notification for abortion on minors (A.5999 and A.6125), required health inspections of clinics (A.4664), a human cloning ban (A.5863) and the Born-Alive Protections Act, which would have restored legal protections to children born from a failed abortion (A.7816).

And on July 21, the state assembly passed legislation authorizing the commissioner of health to conduct a study on pro-life pregnancy centers in the state (A.8212). The New York State Catholic Conference released a memo of opposition against the bill stating the study is biased and pre-determined to find centers as “limited” by denying women access to abortion. While the Senate is not currently scheduled to consider the bill, they could do so at any time.

The battle with legislation, coupled with the loss of pro-life assembly incumbents in state legislative primary races in June means “a significant shift in legislative membership and committee assignments come January 2021,” Gallagher said.

“The incoming new members describe themselves as ‘progressive’ and strongly favor the right to abortion,” Gallagher added.
Previous pro-life issues facing New York State, such as the potential passage of physician-assisted suicide, could be impacted by the change in seating.

“As part of the New York Alliance Against Assisted Suicide, we successfully deadlocked the Assembly Health Committee on that issue for the past several years; thus the bill could not advance in that House,” Gallagher said. “But committee membership will likely change in 2021, meaning we will have new lawmakers to educate on the issue.”

Added Gallagher: “The New York State Catholic Conference will be carefully monitoring committee assignments and legislative proposals in the 2021 legislative session, as well as advocating for the protection of all human lives.”