ALBANY — A radical abortion expansion bill supported by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has been thwarted in the state Senate due to the efforts of the Independent Democratic Conference and its leader, Senator Jeff Klein.

As previously reported, Cuomo had spoken of his intent to pass an abortion bill as part of his ten-point “Women’s Equality Act” during his “state of the state” address in January.

“Protect a woman’s freedom of choice. Enact a Reproductive Health Act because it is her body, it is her choice,” he declared to those gathered, repeating the “her body, her choice” clause three times.

However, the proposed bill backed by Cuomo caused great alarm to pro-life organizations throughout the state. They warned that the legislation would not only redefine pregnancy as beginning at implantation rather than conception, allow non-physicians to perform abortions in some instances, and jeopardize conscience protections for faith-based doctors and hospitals, but would also implement late-term abortion-on-demand.

“The Reproductive Health Act would legalize abortion through all nine months of pregnancy for virtually any reason and make abortion immune from any reasonable state regulation such as parental notification or informed consent,” stated Leslie Diaz of Democrats for Life of New York. “It would make legal late-term abortions that are now a criminal offense under current penal law.”

Reports state that Cuomo’s motive behind the legislation was to ensure that abortion would remain “legal” in the state in the event that Roe v. Wade was somehow overturned on a national level.

On Monday of this week, the Independent Democratic Conference introduced Cuomo’s “Women’s Equality Act” in the Senate, minus the abortion expansion legislation. According to reports, the Conference decided to drop the bill as it would result in the certain defeat of the entire Act.

Therefore, Cuomo agreed to allow the Act to be broken up into ten separate bills in the Senate. However, it remained intact in the Assembly, and passed on Thursday — abortion expansion language and all.

As the matter then moved to the Senate, Jeff Klein, the leader of the Independent Democratic Conference, decided to attach the abortion plank as a “hostile amendment” to a bill pertaining to medical records.

“Senator Diane Savino was holding the gavel [during] the session, and she ruled that the amendment was relevant to the bill,” Stephen Hayford, legislative director for New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, told Christian News Network. “Republicans challenged the ruling. Of the 63 senators, 32 voted to overturn the ruling.”

Exactly 32 votes were needed in order to prevent the bill from moving forward in the Senate.

New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms issued an announcement late Friday night rejoicing that abortion expansion has come to a screeching halt due to the efforts of state legislators.

“While the horrific reality of abortion is practiced behind the closed doors of hospitals and clinics and minimized with words like ‘choice’ and ‘reproductive health care,’ nothing is hidden from the Lord,” stated Executive Director Jason McGuire. “Today, the Lord has intervened on behalf of the helpless unborn children of New York. We praise the Lord and thank Him for His faithfulness and His mercy on the State of New York, which desperately needs Him.”

Photo: Pat Arnow

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