ABORTION
The New York State Right to Life Committee (NYSRTLC) holds that unborn children should be protected by law, and that abortion should be permitted only when necessary to prevent the death of the mother.
Under what circumstances, if any, do you believe that abortion should be legal?
- ___√____ Only to prevent the death of the mother (This is the position of NYSRTLC).
- _________ To prevent the death of the mother, or in cases of rape reported to a law enforcement agency, or incest against a minor reported to a child abuse agency.
- Other: (please explain)
This was an atrocious change in the approach to the termination of pregnancies that should have been stopped immediately. But instead, it was incorporated into law. We need to go back to 1972, not 1973, and rewrite the laws to ensure the survival of the infants who are born prematurely because of a desire to terminate the pregnancy – and do so regardless of the reason for the termination of the pregnancy. We can save babies after 23 weeks. Maybe not all, but many. It is expensive, but that expense decreases as the woman reaches full term. So, the emphasis needs to be on meeting the needs of the woman to allow the pregnancies to go as close to a full term as is feasible. We need to allow for pre-adoption, the arrangement between prospective adoptive parents and the mother for pre- and post-natal care, and to allow interested parties to offer options to the pregnant women for living expenses, etc. If we are truly pro-life, we need to look at the needs of the mother as well as the infant.
ROE v. WADE
In its 1973 rulings in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, the U.S. Supreme Court created a “right to abortion” for any reason until “viability” (into the sixth month), and for any “health” reasons – including “emotional” health – even during the final three months of pregnancy. This ruling invalidated the abortion laws that were in effect in all 50 states at that time.
In the 1992 ruling of Casey v. Planned Parenthood, the Supreme Court reaffirmed the “core holdings” of Roe v. Wade and said that laws that placed an “undue burden” on access to abortion would be struck down.
Do you advocate changing the Roe v. Wade, Doe v. Bolton, and Casey v. Planned Parenthood decisions, so that elected legislative bodies (the State Legislatures and Congress) may once again protect unborn children by limiting and/or prohibiting abortion?
YES ___√____ NO ____√_____
I approve of changing Roe v Wade, but not so that the states can go back to the antiquated regulations that existed prior to that decision. I would like to see the state write laws that allowed society to voluntarily assisted women in time of need and to provide for the newborn in its time of need – regardless of when the child was born because of a termination of pregnancy. Medical procedures should favor saving the life of the mother and baby, not guaranteeing the baby would be dead. I would like to see laws that encouraged the use of a “day-after pill” if pregnancy is not desired,(one effective before the fertilized egg, zygote, or blastocyst is attached to the uterus), and a prohibition on an “abortion” that requires a physical detachment and death of the growing baby (fetus), which is what the termination of pregnancy truly would be if carried out before about week twenty-three 23, the earliest date at which there is some hope of saving the life of the baby.
EXTREME ABORTION LAWS
Would you support repeal of the so-called “Reproductive Health Act” (RHA), signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on January 22 (Chapter 1 of 2019), which goes well beyond Roe to establish abortion as a fundamental right, prohibits laws to protect unborn children after viability, and repeals previous laws on the books in New York including protective medical standards and allowing prosecution of illegal abortions?
YES___√______NO__________
I am disgusted at the callous disregard for human life demonstrated by this law. If life is not worth saving when a helpless baby, is it not worth saving when the elderly and infirmed? Perhaps that was the callous rationale behind sending Covid19 infected elderly back to nursing homes. That mentality and outlook among our leaders should never be tolerated in society.
THE PAIN OF UNBORN BABIES
There is now substantial medical and scientific evidence that abortion methods used in the fifth month and beyond such as the “dilation and evacuation” (dismemberment) method cause excruciating pain to unborn children.
Sixteen states have passed the “Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection” Acts.
Would you support legislation in New York to protect pain-capable unborn children from death by abortion?
YES ___√____ NO _________
DISMEMBERMENT ABORTION
The “Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act” is based on a model state bill proposed by National Right to Life enacted in 12 states since 2015. The bill defines “dismemberment abortion” as “knowingly dismembering a living unborn child and extracting such unborn child one piece at a time from the uterus through the use of clamps, grasping forceps, tongs, scissors or similar instruments that, through the convergence of two rigid levers, slice, crush or grasp a portion of the unborn child’s body in order to cut or rip it off . . .” This Act will prohibit the killing of unborn children by dismemberment.
Would you vote for an “Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act,” to prohibit the use of dismemberment abortion?
YES ___√____ NO _________
ULTRASOUND INFORMED CONSENT
Many women who undergo abortions regret later that they were not given full information about their unborn children beforehand. There is currently legislation that would ensure that women receive ultrasounds and are able to review them before giving informed consent to abortions (A.5089 DiPietro).
Would you support legislation to require that before an abortion, ultrasounds be performed and the images displayed, so that the mother may view the images if they wish?
YES ___√____ NO _________
WOMAN’S RIGHT TO KNOW
A “Woman’s Right to Know” bill protects women’s right to know the medical risks associated with abortion, its alternatives, and nonjudgmental, scientifically accurate medical facts about the development of her unborn children before making these decisions that are permanent and life-altering for them.
Would you support a law requiring women to be given the information described above, at least 24 hours prior to an abortion being performed?
YES ___√____ NO _________
SEX-SELECTION ABORTION
Sex-selection abortion is used to prevent the birth of children of an undesired sex. The victims of these abortions are overwhelmingly female.
Would you support legislation banning the discrimination of gender-related abortions by supporting a ban on sex-selection abortions?
YES ___√____ NO _________
PARENTAL NOTIFICATION/CONSENT FOR MINORS’ ABORTIONS
Laws are on the books in all but five states (including New York) requiring notification or consent of, at least, one parent (or authorization by a judge) before an abortion can be performed on minors.
Would you support a bill that would require parental involvement prior to minors obtaining abortions?
YES ___√____ NO _________ Candidate initials _MEG_____
UNBORN VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE ACT
There is currently an “Unborn Victims of Violence” bill (S.1383 Ritchie/A.3130 Cusick) in New York that would recognize that when criminals attack pregnant women and injure or kill both them and their unborn children, they have claimed two human victims. The bill would establish that when unborn children are injured or killed during the commission of certain crimes of violence, then assailants may be charged with a second offense on behalf of the second victim. The bill does not apply to any abortions to which pregnant women have consented, to any act of mothers themselves, or to any form of medical treatment.
Would you vote to recognize unborn children as victims of violent crimes in an “Unborn Victims of Violence” bill, and oppose counter-proposals that would treat crimes that injure or kill unborn children as if they were only additional injuries to their mothers?
YES ___√____ NO _______
BORN ALIVE ABORTION SURVIVOR’S PROTECTION ACT
There is currently a bill in the New York Legislature, modeled after national legislation, called the “Born Alive Abortion Survivors’ Protection Act” (S.5332 Helming/A.7816 Manktelow). This bill mandates that, in cases of failed abortions where infants survive, they receive proper medical care after they are born and mandates that there be no further attempts to end their lives. To be clear, this legislation in no way seeks to ban abortions or chip away at Roe vs. Wade. It simply seeks to protect babies after they have already been born due to failed abortions.
Would you vote for legislation that would mandate that, in the case of failed abortions, babies who are already born receive proper medical care and that there be no further attempts to end their lives?
YES ___√____ NO _______
I would also call for the same care for children who are born as a result of a “termination of pregnancy” procedure.
SEX EDUCATION PROGRAMS
Currently, there is a bill in the New York State Legislature called the “Healthy Teens Act” (S.1030 Rivera/A.1083 Gottfried) that would establish “an age-appropriate sex education grant program.” This legislation paves the way for funds to be given to a “nationally recognized and accredited organization with experience in analyzing the efficacy and benefits of sex education grant programs” so that this organization could evaluate the grant programs established by the “Healthy Teens Act.” This could easily open the door for funds to be granted to abortion giants such as Planned Parenthood and enable them to taint the program with radical pro-abortion ideology.
Will you vote against any bill establishing a sex education program unless it clearly states that the program would not promote abortion as an option to students, fund pro-abortion organizations, or in any other way partner with pro-abortion organizations?
YES ___√____ NO _______
ABORTION FUNDING
In the Webster decision handed down July 3, 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Missouri statute that limited the use of public facilities for abortions when the mother’s life was not at stake. It is entirely appropriate and legal for a state to make a decision to stay out of the abortion business altogether.
Would you vote to prevent the use of tax funds for abortion other than to prevent the death of the mother, such as the annual Medicaid funding amendment offered in the New York State Assembly to the Health and Mental Hygiene portion of the State Budget?
YES ____√___ NO _________
If it is not possible to pass the law or amendment described in #13, would you vote to prevent the use of tax funds for abortion other than to prevent the death of the mother, when the pregnancy is the result of rape (reported to law enforcement agencies within seven days), or when the pregnancy of a minor is the result of incest (when the perpetrator of the crime is reported to a law enforcement agency)?
YES ____√___ NO _________
ABORTION IN HEALTH INSURANCE
Some bills to reform health care have included provisions under which state governments require coverage of abortions in certain types of health insurance plans. Often, such bills do not explicitly mention abortions, but they contain mandates that invariably will be construed by courts, and/or by administrative agencies, to include abortions. For example, any legal mandate for coverage of “medically necessary services” or “reproductive health services” will be construed to include elective abortions, unless explicit language is added to prevent this interpretation.
Would you vote to add strong abortion-exclusion language to any legislation that would define a specific package of health care benefits?
YES ____√___ NO _______
I would favor legislation that allowed the individual the option of making a decision concerning whether they wish to carry ‘pregnancy termination’ insurance. I could never support legislation that demands the inclusion of coverage of pre-meditated ‘abortion’.
The 2010 federal health care law, known as the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” or “Obamacare,” allows states to opt-out of the use of tax-dollars to provide abortion coverage in the state-based insurance “exchanges” it creates.
Would you support legislation that allows our state to prohibit all qualified health plans offered through the state exchange from including abortion coverage, except to prevent the death of the mother?
YES ___√____ NO _________
‘Abortion’ is defined as the termination of the life of the baby. I would support coverage for ‘termination of the pregnancy’, when at the discretion of the doctor and mother, they decide on that medical treatment, and provisions are made for care and adoption of the infant.
If efforts to enact the law above fail, will you vote for a law that would prohibit all qualified health plans offered through the state exchange from including abortion coverage except when necessary to prevent the mother’s death, or when the pregnancy is the result of rape (reported to law enforcement authorities within seven days), or when the pregnancy resulted from an act of incest committed against a minor (with the perpetrator reported to law enforcement authorities)?
YES ____√___ NO _________
FREEDOM OF PRO-LIFE EMPLOYERS
On November 8, 2019, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the so-called “Boss” bill into law, which bans “discrimination” by employers based on employees’ “reproductive health decision making.” This law poses a grave danger to the religious freedom rights and conscience rights of pro-life organizations and businesses such as New York State Right to Life, as it could be interpreted to force such organizations and businesses to hire pro-abortion employees. In fact, three pro-life organizations, the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, CompassCare Pregnancy Services, and the First Bible Baptist Church in Hilton are currently suing New York because they recognize the threat of this law constitutes to their First Amendment rights.
Would you support repeal of the so-called “Boss” law to restore protection of conscience rights for pro-life organizations and businesses?
YES ___√____ NO _______
CRISIS PREGNANCY CENTERS
Currently, there is a bill in the New York State Legislature that would require crisis pregnancy centers to disclose upon the first contact with clients that they do not provide abortions and do not refer for abortions and that they are not “licensed medical providers’ (S.2264 Hoylman/A.2352 Glick). In addition to making abortion the norm for pregnancy-related care, this bill undermines the highly necessary care that crisis pregnancy centers provide.
Would you oppose any crisis pregnancy center “disclosure” legislation that undermines crisis pregnancy centers and further establishes abortion as the norm for pregnancy-related care?
YES ____√___ NO _______
There is also a bill that would require the Commissioner of Health to conduct a study on what it absurdly terms “limited service pregnancy centers” (S.6311 Hoylman/A.8212 Glick). The bill mandates that a taskforce helps with the study and that the task force includes an OBGYN whose practice includes abortion and an individual “with professional experience in the field of reproductive rights, health, and/or justice.” This bill attaches suspect status to crisis pregnancy centers and gives adversaries of crisis pregnancy centers undue power over them.
Would you oppose any legislation that would place crisis pregnancy centers under suspicion by requiring the Commissioner of Health to conduct a study on them with the assistance of those hostile to their important work?
YES ___√____ NO _______
EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT
Several states have passed state “Equal Rights Amendments” which amend their states’ constitutions to invalidate any law or government policy that discriminates “on account of sex.” In some of the states, courts have used these laws to invalidate protections against abortion. The New Mexico Supreme Court, e.g., in 1998 unanimously ruled that the New Mexico ERA required state funding of abortion. We oppose New York’s ERA (S.3249 Salazar/A.271 Seawright) unless an abortion neutralization amendment is added to ensure that the ERA will not change abortion policy in any way. The amendment would read: “Nothing in this article shall be construed to grant, secure, or deny any right relating to abortion or the funding thereof.”
Would you vote against New York’s proposed ERA (S.3249 Salazar/A.271 Seawright) if it does not contain the abortion neutralization amendment?
YES ___√____ NO _______
PROTECTION OF HUMAN EMBRYOS
The right to life of human beings must be respected at every stage of their biological development. Human individuals who are at the embryonic stage of development should not be used for harmful or lethal medical experimentation. This applies equally to human beings whether their lives were begun by somatic cell nuclear transfer (human cloning) or by some other laboratory technique. NYSRTLC opposes harvesting stem cells from living human embryos since this kills the embryos. Note: NYSRTLC is NOT opposed to other research on stem cells obtained without killing embryos – for example, stem cells harvested from umbilical cord blood and from adult tissue.
Will you vote for measures to protect living human embryos from being used for medical experiments that would harm or kill them, including embryonic stem cell research that would require the killing of human embryos, regardless of the method used to create these human embryos?
YES ___√____ NO _______
ASSISTING SUICIDE
The highest court in New York, the Court of Appeals, ruled unanimously (7-0) in 2017 that NY has a legitimate and protective interest in maintaining its prohibition on physicians and providers assisting suicide, which would put persons with disabilities and others who some may view as “inconvenient” at risk.
Do you oppose the so-called “Medical Aid in Dying Act” (S.3947 Savino/A.2694 Paulin) which would authorize doctors and other health care practitioners to assist suicide and strike down New York’s law prohibiting assisted suicide?
YES ___√____ NO _______
Would you support a law to prevent assisting suicide by allowing relatives or others affected by an attempted or completed suicide, as well as public officials, to sue whoever “assists” for money damages and to obtain an injunction against future attempts by that person to assist suicides?
YES __√_____ NO _______
PERINATAL HOSPICE
When families are given the tragic news that their unborn children have been diagnosed with a fetal anomaly incompatible with life, they need to know about the resources available to them. Perinatal hospice is a positive offer of support to parents facing lethal prenatal diagnoses for their children. From the time of diagnosis, it helps parents through the short time they have with their babies before and after birth in a positive life-affirming manner.
Would you support legislation providing a mother with information on perinatal hospice?
YES ___√____ NO _______
Why do we need legislation to accomplish this task? Is there legislation that prevents this information from being given voluntarily by medical staff? If so, should we not change that legislation? I would not support another state agency being created to perform this service.
STANDARDS ON WITHHOLDING OR REMOVING NUTRITION AND HYDRATION
Current New York law provides that if patients’ agents do not know their wishes regarding the administration or removal of assisted nutrition and hydration, then agents do not have the authority to deny patients these necessities. However, there is a bill in the New York State Legislature that would remove this protection (A.730A Rosenthal).
Would you vote against any legislation that would remove protections from patients in need of nutrition and hydration unless the patients clearly indicate (or have indicated on advance directives) that they desire for such nutrition and hydration to be withheld or removed?
YES ___√____ NO _______
HEALTH CARE RATIONING
When the government rations health care in a way that makes it illegal or impossible for citizens to choose lifesaving medical treatment, food, and fluids, it imposes a type of involuntary euthanasia.
Would you vote against any bill that would prohibit or limit the right to spend one’s own money for health care or health insurance, including “single payer” plans such as the “New York Health Act” (S.3577 Rivera/A.5248 Gottfried)?
YES ___√____ NO _______
PRICE CONTROLS
When the government limits by law what can be charged for health care, it limits what people can pay for health care. Government price controls prevent access to lifesaving medical treatment that costs more to supply than the price set by the government. The same is true when price controls are imposed on what people are permitted to pay for health insurance.
Would you vote against any bill that would impose price controls on health insurance premiums or health care?
YES ____√___ NO _______
POLITICAL SPEECH
In its January 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. FEC, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects the right of corporations (which includes nonprofit corporations, such as NYSRTLC) to spend money to express viewpoints regarding those who hold or seek political office.
Would you oppose any legislation that would penalize corporations, including nonprofit corporations such as NYSRTLC, for engaging in the types of free speech that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled are protected by the First Amendment?
YES___√___ NO______
Under the “Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act” (McCain-Feingold), the Federal Election Commission promulgated new rules on defining what constitutes illegal “coordination” between candidates (including incumbent members of Congress and incumbent presidents) and citizen groups. The rules do not specifically require that there be “formal agreement or collaboration” with a member of Congress or other candidates for expenditure by a citizen group or political action committee to be a “coordinated expenditure” and thus a campaign “contribution.” New York has adopted similar rules under broad “ethics” legislation. Under the loose new definition of “coordination,” citizen groups and PACs that communicate with legislators on legislative matters and also conduct independent expenditures are at risk of being unintentionally “coordinated,” thereby making their independent expenditures illegal campaign “contributions.”
Would you support regulatory reforms and/or new legislation in New York to reestablish that “coordination” means only a formal agreement or collaboration on a specific project between a candidate and a citizen group or PAC?
YES ___√____ NO _______