This past Tuesday, on the 46th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law what is arguably the least restrictive state legislation regarding abortion. The law removes the legal protection of babies born alive during a botched abortion and removes the threat of all legal prosecution for abortion providers, which now can include midwives and other non-medical professionals. The new law also allows abortion up until the moment of birth if the health of the mother is threatened.
The law is medically unnecessary, according to pro-life advocate Dr. Anthony Levantino and others, who have argued that a C-section in late term pregnancies is easier and safer than a two day late-term abortion procedure.
As pro-life advocate Lila Rose pointed out, a state that outlaws the death penalty for criminals now allows the death penalty for babies. But this sort of cognitive dissonance is no longer shocking to those who still believe in the objective value of human life.
The bill was pushed through both legislative houses and signed into law in under 24 hours, driven by the panic of “a federal government intent on rolling back Roe v. Wade and women’s reproductive rights,” according to Cuomo. The governor demonstrates beautifully that scientific and philosophical proof that human life begins at conception is no longer a consideration in the war games of the abortion ideology. The only mission now is to win.
While absurd, the game itself pales in comparison to the unbridled glee that seems to accompany every pro-abortion victory these days. Watching the ceremony, you almost expect the politicians and onlookers to break out the left-over New Year’s Eve confetti poppers and give a champagne toast to the perpetuation of a practice that has so far sentenced 61 million American babies to death since 1973.
This time, however, the abortion advocates and Governor Cuomo have simply gone too far. Tuesday evening, on the governor’s command, New York landmarks were lit up in pink, in celebration of the future destruction of innocent and helpless Americans — including the 9/11 memorial spire, splashed pink against a black sky. Below stood engraved memorials to the 11 unborn American lives that were lost on that site in 2001.
In his glee-ridden desire to promote abortion, Cuomo not only smited the memories of these victims and their mothers, but insulted the American people and our inalienable human right to life. It is one thing to publish books or pass laws promoting abortion, but it is a very different thing to hijack a symbol of American spirit and resilience and repurpose it to promote the destruction of American lives.
New York Magazine claimed that New York had finally “updated it’s archaic abortion law,” with the passage of Tuesday’s bill. Yet, abortion advocates seem to be recycling the rhetoric of pro-slavery politicians our Hillsdale students bravely stood against during the Civil War. Cuomo claims that President Trump’s administration, allegedly intent on overturning Roe v. Wade, “defies American evolution,” yet employs the same principles that freed slaves not so many years ago.
Abortion proponents believe that the pink landmarks shine as beacons for women’s rights. As a woman, I am horrified that my so-called freedom relies on the blood of others. It is deeply evil to believe that my freedom as a woman means that babies lying on the abortion table still breathing must be denied medical attention. Women must reject the lie that they must dehumanize others as they were once dehumanized to maintain their own “freedom.”
Kathleen Russo is a senior studying American Studies.
