On Tuesday, Jan. 22, the governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, on the 46th anniversary of Roe V. Wade signed into law a bill that allows for third-trimester fetuses to be aborted. This legislation removes the current stipulation on abortion, which is limited to 24 weeks.
The passage of this bill was then followed up by a viral video of Gov. Ralph Northam coming out in support of legislation in the state of Virginia that would allow an abortion of an infant during and post-birth.
Why? In order “to protect the patient’s life or health.” Health, however, is left purposefully ambiguous. Health could refer to mental health, emotional health, psychological health or anything the medical provider deems sufficient to justify late-term abortions. It’s been well medically documented that after 28 weeks, the third trimester, there are absolutely no reasons why an infant must be aborted. There are certainly complicated instances that can put the mother’s life in peril, and these can require premature deliveries, C-sections, or other ways to safely remove the child. But with late-term abortions – those performed after 28 weeks – no serious medical situation exists that requires the infant to be aborted to save the mother’s life. In every case, the child can be delivered alive without posing a fatal threat to the mother.
On top of that, numerous stories exist of premature deliveries of infants in the second trimester, which have survived to term. Fetuses become viable between 24 and 28 weeks, and can survive independently outside of the womb. Somehow, though, based on a pretext as simple mental “health” – this bill will enable medical providers to perform legal abortions on perfectly viable infants.
The New York State Right to Life pro-life group has stated that this is the most aggressive abortion law in the entire country. To put it shortly, this law does not seem to be about being pro-choice, it’s about being pro-abortion. We now have drafted legislation that would effectively legalize the intentional killing of an infant seconds before, during and after their birth.
WOMEN'S RIGHTS GROUPS SUPPORT LATE-TERM ABORTION, DESPITE PUBLIC OUTCRY
As a father of three adopted children whom I love dearly, the idea of late-term abortions – performed painfully on viable infants – is appalling. A former abortionist describes the process of abortion at this late stage of pregnancy:
“The baby is injected with a poison directly into his skull or torso. He then suffers a hideously painful death, which he will certainly feel because of his developed nervous system. The mother carries the corpse around in her womb for a day. The next day, there is an ultrasound to check if the baby is dead. If he isn't – if he has been writhing and suffering in agony for the past 24 hours, clinging onto life – then he will be injected again. The following day, the mother delivers her dead child. Sometimes she delivers him at the clinic, but if she can't make it on time, the clinic is perfectly happy to recommend that she give birth into her toilet.”
This is nauseating, repugnant, horrific, and vile. Not only is murder wrong, but in no conceivable way is this safe for the mother. The pretext that this is about women’s health seems seriously dubious.
Just last year, Governor Cuomo tweeted this: “The death penalty is morally indefensible and has no place in the 21st century… I will be advancing legislation to remove the death penalty from state law once and for all.” The irony is all too apparent. Why would it be OK to give lethal injections to infants but not criminals?
I’ve presented medical arguments to discredit the legitimacy of this legislation, but here’s another reason: In Jeremiah 1:5, God states, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.” If God recognizes the humanity in a fetus, perhaps that should be good enough for us. We must do all we can to elect pro-life legislators to office. We must be proactive in standing for the right to life, especially for those who are unable to speak for themselves.