[guest post by Dana]

On Tuesday, the 46th anniversary of the Roe decision, New York cheered at the passage of the Reproductive Health Act, which was signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The law provides increased protections for innocent unborn babies women to legally have abortions up to the point of birth:

New York state has enacted strong new legal protections for abortion rights. The new law, signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday, safeguards rights laid out in Roe v. Wade and other court rulings, including a provision permitting late-term abortions when a woman’s health is endangered, The Associated Press reports. The state’s previous law, which had been on the books for nearly 50 years, only permitted abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy if a woman’s life was at risk.

Governor Cuomo celebrated the passing of the bill in the Democrat-led Senate and Assembly on Tuesday, which happened to be the 46th anniversary of the Roe decision. “In the face of a federal government intent on rolling back Roe v. Wade and women’s reproductive rights, I promised that we would enact this critical legislation within the first 30 days of the new session — and we got it done,” Cuomo said in a statement.

There is a dramatic difference between an abortion necessary to save the life of a mother vs. an aspect of a woman’s *health*, as one is specific, and the other is wide-open and could mean anything, involving any number of factors and varying degrees of subjectivity:

The legislation provides a further exception to permit abortion at any point during pregnancy if a health-care practitioner deems it necessary for the mother’s life or health — the exception that was defined in Roe companion case Doe v. Bolton as “all factors — physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman’s age — relevant to the wellbeing of the patient.” In other words, abortion will be available to women essentially on demand up to the point of birth. The RHA will also decriminalize abortion, moving it from the state’s criminal code to the public-health code.

Also included in the law is the authorization that midwives and physician assistants can now perform some abortions

As Christina Fadden, chair of New York State Right to Life, explained:

The Reproductive Health Act (RHA) was sold to the public saying it merely ‘updates’ the law by codifying Roe v. Wade into our statute, which is not true. RHA has made abortion a ‘fundamental right’ and prohibits all limits on abortion, which not even Roe v. Wade did.

Further insulting unborn baby girls everywhere, Gov. Cuomo celebrated the decision by directing state landmarks, including One World Trade Center to be lit up in pink to “shine a bright light forward for the rest of the nation to follow.”

Celebrating along with Gov. Cuomo and New Yorkers, was the head of Planned Parenthood, Dr. Leana Wen, who never misses an opportunity to try and convince us that abortion is standard medical care:

Obviously, the passage of the law means no such thing. Just because the State gave its blessing and sanctioned the murder of babies at any stage in a pregnancy, does not make it “standard medical care”. How utterly disingenuous of Dr. Wen to make such an illogical claim. If the state of New York said that abortion is murder, and then outlawed it, would Dr. Wen agree that abortion is indeed murder because the State said so? Of course not. This is transparently childish and intellectually dishonest. And just because the State says something is legal, does not make it moral. Apparently we haven’t learned that lesson yet. But of course the goal has always been to normalize this horrific standard medical care, dehumanize its innocent victims by denying their undeniable humanity, and remove any remnant of a long-held moral respect for the sanctity of life from our culture. Safe, legal and rare was just a cheap gimmick to make the pro-abortionists feel righteous about their death march and convince others that there would always be limits to abortion.

I know it goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: A full-term 7 lb. baby who is to be the recipient of an incision made at the base of its tiny skull in order to have its brain necessarily sucked out to collapse its skull might strenuously object to Wen’s casual standard medical care rhetoric. In fact, I’m betting that their pitiful, silent screams are just that.

–Dana