Blogs
Date posted: April 27, 2012
10. It moves New York State in the opposite direction of “safe, legal and rare.”
9. It would undermine maternity and prenatal care programs, which could be ruled “discriminatory” for favoring childbirth over abortion.
8. It could be used to mandate abortion coverage in all insurance plans.
7. It could compel Catholic Charities and Catholic schools to counsel and refer for abortion.
6. It could compel all hospitals, even Catholic hospitals, to allow abortions on premises.
5. It lifts the current age restriction on the purchase of the so-called “morning-after pill” at neighborhood drug stores, allowing girls as young as 11 and 12 to get the drugs without a doctor’s prescription or a parent’s knowledge.
4. It makes abortion immune to common-sense prudent regulations: parental notification for minors’ abortions, restrictions on taxpayer funding, informed consent or a waiting period for pregnant women.
3. By inserting a broad “health” exception into our law, it opens up third-trimester abortions for any reason at all, and invites late-term abortionists into New York State to set up shop to abort viable, fully formed babies.
2. By repealing the requirement in current law that only a licensed physician may perform an abortion, it endangers women’s lives.
1. New York is already the abortion capital of the nation, with 33% of pregnancies (40% in NYC) ending in abortion, as opposed to 19% nationally.
Here is our bill memo on the legislation.
Date posted: April 19, 2012
by Kathleen M. Gallagher
Now that the state budget has been adopted, the New York State Legislature turns its attention to other policy matters, and their 2012 Session is not scheduled to end until June 21, a full two months away. Abortion advocacy groups are turning up the heat to move the so-called “Reproductive Health Act,” an extreme and unnecessary piece of legislation.
NARAL-NY led a lobby day in Albany earlier this week. And “Clergy for Choice,” a branch of Family Planning Advocates, was also in Albany. (How odd that when religious voices advocate against abortion we are accused of violating the separation of church and state, but when religious voices advocate in favor of abortion, there appear to be no constitutional problems…)
The Senate sponsor of the RHA, Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D- Westchester), is planning to formally “petition” the Senate to move her bill (S.2844/A.6112) out of the Senate Rules Committee. This is a very complicated process under the Senate Rules, one which she cannot begin until April 26, and one that requires her to get 38 Senators’ signatures on the petition in order for it to be successful. Please help ensure that your Senator does not sign this petition. Continue to voice your opposition to the RHA. You can do so here.
Date posted: April 13, 2012
by Kathleen M. Gallagher
Losing a child — whether unborn, stillborn or live born — is undoubtedly the most painful and traumatic event a parent can endure. Now, finally, parents of stillborn children can find some comfort and healing for their heartache by obtaining a Certificate of Still Birth from the New York State Health Department.
It took more than eight years of political wrangling, with abortion advocates fearing the law might — God forbid — confer “personhood” onto the fetus, but now it’s official. As of March 21, 2012, these certificates are available for families who’ve lost a child to stillbirth, defined as “the unintended intrauterine death of a fetus that occurs after the clinical estimate of the 20th week of gestation.”
Information from the State Health Department on how families can apply for a certificate is here.
The actual application is here.
Even family members of still born children from many years ago are eligible for this certificate.
New York City has their own forms which must be used by parents who delivered a stillborn child in one of the five boroughs. The city application is here. More detailed information about instructions for New York City residents is here.
Please spread the word about the availability of these certificates, which will hopefully bring comfort to many who grieve the loss of a child.
Date posted: March 27, 2012
By Kathleen M. Gallagher
Last week I was invited to speak to the 1500 participants gathered at the New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms’ (NYFCF) annual Legislative Day. NYCF is a statewide advocacy group representing evangelical Christian churches in the state. We partner with them on many issues, particularly defending the unborn and the sanctity of marriage and family.
It was my privilege to educate, and hopefully motivate, the NYFCF crowd about the radical “Reproductive Health Act” and the dangers it poses for New York’s mothers and children.
The New York State Catholic Conference associates with many religious organizations on issues of mutual concern. In addition to NYFCF, for example, we regularly work with the Board of Rabbis and (the Protestant) State Council of Churches to support the state’s prison chaplains in their ongoing ministry. We join with them also in seeking to secure greater farmworker rights in our state.
It’s hard to match the awesome strength of faith-filled people joining together for a common cause. Maybe it’s because we all believe in the power of prayer.
Date posted: March 21, 2012
by Kathleen M. Gallagher
The popular media continues to frame the Health and Human Services’ insurance mandate in the context of a supposed “war on women.” In this week’s Long Island Catholic, I debunk the myth that the Catholic Church is part of any so-called “war.” Hope you’ll give it a read:
http://www.licatholic.org/columnists/respect-life-6
Date posted: March 5, 2012
By Kathleen M. Gallagher
Here’s an op ed column I had published in the Daily Gazette (Schenectady, New York) on Sunday, March 4, 2012. It needed to be said. And it bears repeating.
Health and Human Services rule denies religious freedom; forces moral dilemma, discrimination
Catholic Church teaching regarding contraception has been skewered in recent weeks, following the adoption of a federal rule requiring all employers, including Catholic employers, to purchase contraceptive insurance coverage for their employees. But those who are wielding the skewers — everyone from Carl Strock to MSNBC commentators to Stephen Colbert — are missing the point: This debate is not about birth control.
It’s about religious freedom. More 
Date posted: February 23, 2012
By Jim Cultrara
An article in yesterday’s New York Daily News Charter vs. Catholic schools revealed an alarming statistic – charter schools account for 37 percent of the recent decline in the state’s Catholic school enrollment. The article highlights some initial research by Abe Lackman, scholar in residence at Albany Law School, that was presented at a symposium recently hosted by St. Francis College. I was asked to be on the panel to respond to the findings and I will stand by what I said then, namely:
- Parents should be alarmed, taxpayers should be alarmed, and lawmakers should be alarmed.
- Lawmakers intended charter schools to be an alternative to low-performing public schools (so, presumably, the siphoning off of religious and independent school students is unintended).
- Unless the playing field is leveled, far more Catholic schools will close, which in turn will unnecessarily disrupt thousands of lives and cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars more.
When Cardinal Dolan testified in Albany last year, he urged lawmakers to reverse this trend. Here’s a little of what he said: “I stand with you in support of our public schools. All I’m asking is that our support be for all our kids, whether they’re in government or independent schools. I’m not surprised that our parents and kids are angry. They know you support public schools – and that’s fine – so do they. They know you support the growth of charter schools – and that’s fine too. But they want to know why you are not supporting them as well. As the public sector expands, the religious and independent sector is shrinking – and it is taxpaying families who pay the price. Please reverse this trend. We urge you to enact a scholarship or education tax credit program that will provide meaningful assistance to enable parents to choose the school best suited for their children. You can afford to do no less.”
Read the Daily News article HERE.
Date posted: February 13, 2012
By Kathleen M. Gallagher
Less than 24 hours after the New York Giants won the Super Bowl, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that our state was offering a new custom license plate in their honor. For an initial cost of $60, and an annual renewal fee of $31.25, you too can have the NFL Giants with the Super Bowl XLVI Champions logo on a moving mini-billboard on your car.
I have nothing against the New York Giants, but seriously? Our state has not issued a single new specialty license plate in eight years. That’s right, even a September 11 memorial plate and a Cure Childhood Cancer plate have been turned down.
Why? Because in 2004 the NYS Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) suspended all new custom plates so they wouldn’t be forced to allow a “Choose Life” license plate on the road. That’s a message our New York State government happens to disagree with, and finds politically incorrect.
The DMV used to administratively approve new custom license plates with relative frequency, as evidenced by the hundreds of designs now on the road. But in 2001, the Children First Foundation, a pro-adoption organization, applied to the DMV for the “Choose Life” plate. They were rejected — repeatedly. The state claimed that a license plate advocating a “politically sensitive” and “emotionally charged” viewpoint is “patently offensive” and could incite “road rage.” (As an aside, why are they not similarly worried about potential road rage from New England Patriots fans?)
So the Children First Foundation sued the state. And in November of last year, they welcomed a favorable decision in United States District Court. The judge said the state DMV infringed on their right to free speech and ordered the DMV to allow the “Choose Life” plate on the road. But the State of New York appealed that decision, so, for now, as the case drags on, no new plates.
Unless, of course, you want a New York Giants Super Bowl Champions plate. That one the Governor will allow.
In addition to being insulting to the victims and heroes of 9/11, as well as to noble causes like cancer research, that’s just plain wrong. You can’t permit free speech for some but not for all. Governor, lift the moratorium. Let the Choose Life license plates on the road.
Date posted: February 3, 2012
By Jim Cultrara
Michael Benjamin’s OpEd in the NY Post this week, Stop burning NY’s special-ed dollars, calls for a ”shake up of New York’s shameful special-education system… with a school-choice program for students with special needs and disabilities. ” Shameful is right. Not only because far too many children with special needs are not getting the services they need, but because Mr. Benjamin’s proposed solution is opposed by the very people who are in place to serve these children. Parents are the ones who bring children into this world and Mr. Benjamin is proposing to empower those parents with the means to direct their children’s education. Frankly, that’s the way it already is for families with financial means and it should be the way for all families. It’s a shame that such a proposal seems so radical. And shame on those who oppose it.
Date posted: February 2, 2012
By Kathleen M. Gallagher
Yesterday’s headlines were filled with the news that Pfizer was recalling a million packets of birth control pills because of a defect that could lead to unintended pregnancies. In case you missed it, Ann Curry of NBC’s Today Show interviewed a physician about the situation, one Dr. Keri Peterson, described as an internist and contributor to Women’s Health magazine. When asked what options there are for women who have been using the defective pills, Dr. Peterson suggested the use of other forms of birth control and, if a woman thinks she’s pregnant, there are “over-the-counter termination kits available.” (Read the transcript here.)
I can only assume she means the so-called “morning-after pill,” which the FDA classifies as a method of “contraception.” Abortion advocates scoff at the pro-life community when we dare to suggest that these drugs can act as an early abortion by preventing an already-conceived embryo from implanting in the uterine wall. But now we have a medical expert calling these pills a “termination kit.” Great. I welcome her honesty. It may sound harsh and insensitive, but that’s what abortion is – the termination of a developing human life. Let’s at least be frank in telling it like it is.
