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March 27, 2024 Media Contact: D.J Robinson, Michele Sterlace info@FCLNY.org 716 864 1454 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ROCHESTER, NY —   In just about seven short months, a controversial state constitutional ‘equal rights’ amendment, impacting parents and children, will be on the ballot in New York, November 5, 2024. Proponents of NY’s ballot measure claim they’re most concerned about protecting reproductive rights, that the amendment is all about that tried and true blue term : “abortion access.” NY’s proposed ERA, however, goes much further than simply protecting abortion rights. The amendment includes, among other things, the fundamental right of minor children to obtain abortions, including chemical and second and third trimester abortions, as well as a child’s fundamental right to engage in transgender medical interventions. The ERA also empowers Courts to either nullify current or future state laws that require parental notice or consent or to validate state laws that ignore parental notice or consent for these and other life ending or life altering procedures. “You don’t need a law degree to understand how this vaguely written amendment erodes parental rights and hurts children,” states D.J. Robinson, Advisory Board Director of Feminists Choosing Life of New York, a human rights organization that promotes pro-life feminism and the consistent life ethic. FCLNY is also an organizational endorser of the Coalition to Protect Kids-NY, a ballot issue committee purposed to defeat NY’s proposed ERA at the ballot box on general election day. “The proposed so called Equal Rights Amendment potentially provides the court system and public schools in NY with more power than parents to determine what is best for their children,” states Michele Sterlace, Executive Director of FCLNY.  “The amendment threatens to deprive parents of crucial opportunities to help their own kids navigate the most difficult circumstances a minor may face; an unplanned pregnancy or gender confusion,” she adds. “Rather than enshrine ‘freedom and equality’ the ERA hurts children and families,” claims FCLNY’s Board President, Cecelia Lester. “All one needs to do is to look at how Europe has backed away from providing these treatments to children which can have devastating life long effects. No child should be taking medications or having surgeries without their parents’ knowledge and consent. NY is already outdated in its thinking on this,” says Lester. “At the very least scientific uncertainty exists regarding the short and long term impacts of abortion on pregnant minors, as well as the effects of transgender medical interventions on children,” states Sterlace.  “We owe our children, born and unborn,  far more than constitutionally crystallizing rights that will or may harm them, or at minimum where data is lacking regarding impacts, especially when parents, fathers and mothers, are cut from the equation.” According to NY’s most recently published vital statistics on abortion over a five year period, more than six thousand abortions occur on females 20 years old and younger, on average annually. Thousands of those undergoing these abortions are minors 17 years old and younger. More than six thousand later or second and third trimester abortions occur in NY on average annually. Studies reporting on the impacts of abortion on minors are sparse. Even the Guttmacher Institute, Planned Parenthoods research arm states, further study of the “potential risks and benefits” of abortions on minors “is needed.” Relevant published data however does demonstrate that:  “When compared to adult women, adolescents obtain abortions at a later gestational age--a factor that increases both the psychological and medical risks of the procedure.” Studies reporting on the impacts of transgender medial interventions on minors is even more sparse. While its reported that about forty thousand children in the U.S. suffer from gender dysphoria— comprehensive evidence and professional consensus is missing regarding the impacts and safety of transgender interventions for minors. NY already contains replete state statues that protect abortion access and gender expression. See NY’s Reproductive Health Act and NY’s Human Rights Laws, to name only a few. “It’s time we move forward and not backwards regarding ‘rights.’ Until we recognize the paramount role of motherhood, of parenthood, all people are at risk of exploitation,” states FCLNY’s Vice President, Carol Crossed. XXX

Open Blog: Postings are the opinion of the essayist. FCLNY is extremely grateful for the opinions offered and invite others to submit essays to: info@fclny.org. FCLNY recognizes that within the community of subscribers to the consistent life ethic there is a diversity of views as to how this ethic might be implemented in culture, philosophy and law. Not all views necessarily hinge on FCLNY’s opposition to publicly-sanctioned lethal violence. Some may expand that view. Others may narrow that view. Our open blog allows FCLNY supporters and guest essayists to explore these differences in order to achieve greater understanding between peers and within our communities. __________________________________________________________________ Author Britani Anthony holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Georgia State University. She is a member of the AND Campaign's Whole-Life Project. “4 Reasons Men Must Be Holistically Pro-Life” “No ovaries or uterus, no opinion” is a common pro-abortion rights mantra yelled more often than spoken in order to shut a pro-life man up. Though it actually can’t be used against pro-life women who have an opposing view that values human life from conception onwards, some still try anyway. It Takes Two to Tango As women, we can’t get pregnant by ourselves. Even for those (of us) who utilize sperm banks because we want to have children by any means necessary, a man is still needed to create another human being with us even if not in the traditional sense. But these children are not just ours, they also have fathers; fathers who absolutely need to take equal responsibility to raise and support them as we are called to do. Parenting should never be a one person job; it was never meant to be that way. Holistically Pro-Life To be holistically pro-life means that as we value human life from conception in the womb to natural death and care for mothers and their babies, we also recognize and address other societal issues (maternal mortality; racism; poverty; classism; lack of access to affordable healthcare and childcare; living wages; underemployment, unemployment, etc.) and individual situations (abusive and unsupportive partners and other family members; less than ideal living situations; homelessness; internal and external pressures and expectations, etc.) that can influence women’s decisions to abort their children. In order to address why men must be holistically pro-life, we must first unapologetically reiterate the fact that abortion is wrong because of one undeniable and elementary fact: it is the intentional killing of a preborn human being. 4 Reasons Men Must Be Holistically Pro-Life Pro-life Men Help Save Lives In Amy Gentile’s 2014 Social Work Theses on “The Impact of Partner Support In Abortion”, she cites Ney, P., Peeters-ney, M.A., Fung, T., & Sheils, C. (2013) as having “found that if a partner is present and not supportive, the abortion rate is four times greater than if the partner is present and supportive. Therefore, a lack of partner support has been significantly associated with higher rates of abortion and miscarriage.” In Gentile’s same theses, she also cited that, “In a study performed by Shuping, M. (2011), 76% of women stated they would have made a different choice if others had encouraged them differently. These findings illustrate the fact that women often feel abortion is their only option due to their partner’s feelings towards the pregnancy.” (Shuping, 2011). A man’s voice is important because his silence will always speak volumes. Because pro-life men have the potential to save literal lives, women and children will always fare better in society, and life in general, when men are truly lovingly, compassionately, and empathetically pro-life. The current legislation in many places is not conducive to women and children flourishing because among the male legislators, there are not more holistically pro-life men in positions of power and authority seeking to create a healthier and safer society for us and our children. If you have ever met a holistically pro-life man, he seeks to be consistent in his life ethic and will advocate for all of the needs that mothers and their children need to not merely survive, but THRIVE in life. As much as postmodern pro-abortion feminists want to talk about the evils of patriarchy through the lens of gender oppression (and we absolutely should!), they unfortunately do not also see how oppressive abortion truly is as well. Instead of advocating for us to be treated with equal dignity and respect, here some are telling women that we should want to “be like men” and that in order to be “equal” to men and make it in society, we should have the right to kill our innocent babies in our wombs. Instead of acknowledging and appreciating the beautiful differences between men and women while advocating for women to not be discriminated against because we can and may become pregnant at some point in our lives, we are pushing for the spiritual and physical trauma and death of human beings inside and outside of the womb. Pro-life men who empathize and seek to understand women, our bodies, our experiences, and especially what we go through during pregnancy, will also emphasize how important partner support is during and after a woman’s pregnancy for us and our babies. They will want to provide that support so that we will feel happier, supported, and less stressed, which will help our children as well. We must also not forget that abortion affects men as well. The aftermath is not the exact same as it is for women because they cannot get pregnant and the trauma of aborting a child does not affect them in the same physical way. But this does not mean that men’s lives are not forever affected and changed after an abortion. “Male responses to a partner’s abortion include grief, guilt, depression, anxiety, feelings of repressed emotions, helplessness/voicelessness/powerlessness, post-traumatic stress, anger and relationship problems (Coyle, 2007).” https://www.usccb.org/prolife/programs/rlp/rue.pdf Whether a man is holistically pro-life because of conviction or conviction plus personal experience, he is actively taking a step towards helping save the lives of men from not supporting the destruction of their children via abortion. Pro-life men have the power to save lives and help create a healthier society for all of us. Pro-Life Men Destroy Negative Stereotypes of Men by Encouraging Good Character & Healthy Masculinity We have all had negative experiences with men whether it was family, “friends”, romantically, in our workplace, on the street, in public, at church and other places of worship/faith, etc. We have been treated with disrespect and hatred; ignored, overlooked, harassed, and even assaulted by boys and men. These experiences have unfortunately led us to create a stereotype and therefore project our experiences onto men who did not and would not seek to cause us or any other girl or woman harm. Hyper masculinity has lied to society and led people, especially men, to believe that being loving, peaceful, kind, gentle, respectful, self-controlled, self-disciplined, selfless, etc. is “feminine” and makes a man weak, passive, and soft. But men actually should embody all of these positive character traits and more because when they do, it will naturally lead them to value life and promote caring for the weak and vulnerable instead of using their strength and power to dominate and destroy others. Encouraging Accountability, Responsibility, Selflessness, & Self-Control Fatherhood, like motherhood, is not the end of someone’s entire life or identity. It is the beginning of a new season and now an extension (not the sum) of who you are. With parenthood comes a new level of love, sacrifice, selflessness, protection, and responsibility, especially as a man. For men, fatherhood is not the end of their lives; it is the beginning of 3 new ones: theirs, the mother of their child(ren), AND the baby’s. When men believe abortion is a good and valid option, it is the opposite of “manning up” and in fact absolves them of their new responsibility if they have gotten a woman pregnant. It also removes the need for self-control and allows post-modern sexual ethics to use human beings merely for pleasure and dispose of anyone who gets in the way of their fleshly pursuits. Destroying Negative Stereotypes Many people are often upset at how monstrous society can make men out to be. Unfortunately these beliefs have come as a result of the power and authority men have in different spaces, yet are often unlikely to hold themselves and each other to a standard of integrity, discipline, accountability, and responsibility. I would argue that one of the ways we can change that narrative is to encourage men to take complete accountability for their actions, responsibility in their lives, embrace empathy, practice compassion, and exhibit care for others especially when it comes to women’s issues and experiences. Growing in these areas will not only help them to be better husbands, partners, fathers, and friends, but HUMAN BEINGS who are free to feel and healthily express a full range of emotions they may have previously been denied or discouraged from doing. Men will not get off scot-free while women are left unsupported and parenting alone. Pro-Life Men Encourage Healthy Male Leadership & Help Dismantle Toxic Patriarchy  Patriarchy & the Abuse & Mistreatment of Women (females?) Patriarchy is defined as “a system of social structures and practices in which men govern, oppress, and exploit women.” This has resulted in a society where girls and women are largely excluded and men are in control. For various reasons, men are going to be in leadership positions more often than women (in many spaces).  This often proves to be problematic especially when those men are not kind, compassionate, thoughtful, considerate, and empathetic so that they are aware of how their privilege as men may be negatively affecting the women around them and in society. We should note that the oppression and abuse of girls and women exists just as much in sacred spaces as it does in secular spaces. Because patriarchy is heavily male-centered, it enables the bad behavior of men: using, abusing, controlling, and dominating girls and women as they please with no severe consequences for their actions and certainly no help for those affected by this mistreatment (Where there is abuse, specifically sexual abuse, girls and women will be forced or coerced into abortions in order for the abuse to continue.) ; sleeping around/hook up culture; abandonment or coercion into abortion if there is a pregnancy; pornography consumption; the support of what is now called “sex work”, while upholding men as superior to women. Pro-Life Men Lead & Protect in Healthy Ways Good men who are in positions of healthy leadership and/or who recognize their privilege as men in a patriarchal society are not seeking to lead or protect because they don’t believe that women can’t speak up for themselves. They are doing so because it is right to speak up for someone who may have less power or privilege than you. Imagine being in a situation where no one recognizes or cares when you are being mistreated and you’re the only one who is defending you. Some people are ok with that, but it shouldn’t be that way. Society is so hell-bent on “justice” and “speaking up for the oppressed”, yet when good men do it and for the pre-born, it’s strangely a problem. Even so, holistically pro-life men seek to lead and protect no matter what because it’s right and human beings deserve it. Pro-Life Men Remind us of Our Need for Good & Healthy Men In the same way women are not primarily here to be mothers, men are not here primarily to be fathers. Parenthood is beautiful, but will not be part of everyone’s story and that’s ok. No one should be defined by their career, gifts, background, or what season of life we are in. Life changes so much that if we put so much weight on any of those things, we will become so unstable and unsure of who we are when our identity is defined by those things. People are here for their own individual purposes that have to do with making the world a better place in some way, shape, or form. Where patriarchy idolizes and pedestalizes men, post-modern feminism makes men completely obsolete. But we should be seeking to create a society where men are valued for who they are, what they bring to the world, and where they are holding themselves and others accountable and to a standard of kindness, integrity, respect, and compassion. Children, families, and societies fare better when good and healthy men are present in people’s lives as friends, brothers, fathers, uncles, mentors, uncles, husbands, leaders, advocates, and beyond. Sources: Gentile, Amy “The Impact of Partner Support in Abortion” https://digitalcommons.providence.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1092&context=socialwrk_students#:~:text=of%20adolescent%20pregnancies.-,Ney%20et%20al.,et%20al.%2C%202013). Ney, P., Peeters-ney, M.A., Fung, T., & Sheils, C. (2013). How partner support of an adolescent affects her pregnancy outcome. WedMed Central Public Health, 4(2), 1- 22. Shuping, M. (2011). Wantedness and coercion: Key factors in understanding women’s mental health after abortion. Association for Interdisciplinary Research in Values and Social Change, 23(2), 1-8 Citing: Ney et. al (as cited by Gentile, 2014)... (4(2), 1-22) In Amy Gentile’s 2014 Social Work Theses on “The Impact of Partner Support In Abortion”, she cites Ney, P., Peeters-ney, M.A., Fung, T., & Sheils, C. (2013). “How partner support of an adolescent affects her pregnancy outcome.” WedMed Central Public Health, 4(2), 1- 22 “Ney et. al (2013) found that if a partner is present and not supportive, the abortion rate is four times greater than if the partner is present and supportive. Therefore, a lack of partner support has been significantly associated with higher rates of abortion and miscarriage.” “In a study performed by Shuping, M. (2011), 76% of women stated they would have made a different choice if others had encouraged them differently. These findings illustrate the fact that women often feel abortion is their only option due to their partner’s feelings towards the pregnancy. (Shuping, 2011).” Shuping, M. (2011). Wantedness and coercion: Key factors in understanding women’s mental health after abortion. Association for Interdisciplinary Research in Values and Social Change, 23(2), 1-8. Photo by Kampus Production: https://www.pexels.com/photo/joyful-trendy-young-diverse-guys-taking-self-portrait-on-roof-5935258/

Open Blog: Postings are the opinion of the essayist. FCLNY is extremely grateful for the opinions offered and invite others to submit essays to: info@fclny.org. FCLNY recognizes that within the community of subscribers to the consistent life ethic there is a diversity of views as to how this ethic might be implemented in culture, philosophy and law. Not all views necessarily hinge on FCLNY’s opposition to publicly-sanctioned lethal violence. Some may expand that view. Others may narrow that view. Our open blog allows FCLNY supporters and guest essayists to explore these differences in order to achieve greater understanding between peers and within our communities. __________________________________________________________________ Author wishes to remain anonymous “The primary mission of the social work profession is to enhance human well-being and help meet the basic human needs of all people, with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty. A historic and defining feature of social work is the profession’s dual focus on individual well-being in a social context and the well-being of society. Fundamental to social work is attention to the environmental forces that create, contribute to, and address problems in living.” (Read the Code of Ethics, n.d.) One core tenet of the Social Work profession is to allow for the self-determination of the individual – to allow those served to come to their own conclusions and make their own decisions, while the Social Worker acts as a guide to resources and support to facilitate whichever path is taken within the confines of the law. There’s great beauty in this idea. There’s great beauty in regenerative responses to social problems. The kind of response that connects the struggling with positive community, group accountability, resources and aid, and seeks to understand the causes, whether personal, systemic, or both in tandem, that lead to the maintenance of destructive behaviors. This ideal is what attracted me to social work. I was excited to improve lives, be a support for those in struggle, design and implement programs that promote the same, and understand the root causes in our attitudes, ideology, and systems that perpetuates the cycles of poverty and self-destructive behavior. As I made my applications to Social Work programs, however, I came across a glaring contradiction in the social work code of ethics, as it was proposed by the major organizations in the field. The Mainstream View “NASW remains resolute in our commitment to protect reproductive rights and freedoms. NASW affirms all individuals have a right to bodily autonomy, that abortion is health care, and that all individuals have the right to freedom of choice in accessing essential health care services, especially their reproductive health.” (Reproductive Rights are Human Rights, 2022) The National Association of Social Workers, the largest professional body of Social Work in the United States, issued a strong response to the overturn of Roe vs Wade. The Council of Social Work Education (CSWE), which accredits university programs and influences state licensure exams and requirements, echoed this sentiment. It’s great that the NASW stands up for reproductive rights. Unfortunately, they’re too narrow in scope. They’ve failed to make a commitment to the reproductive rights of the fetal human; a commitment to the right to be reproduced. They’ve failed to make a commitment to the fetal human’s bodily autonomy. They’ve failed to consider the right of self-determination to the fetal human. I understand their approach. A woman’s pregnancy is a sensitive, vulnerable time. Many different circumstances add progressive weight to the situation. The burdens, risks, and dangers of pregnancy, by biological necessity, fall more on women. Killing the fetal human, from a purely economic standpoint, will greatly improve the woman’s economic mobility while decreasing her burdens, and allow for greater independence. And the intertwining of the life of the fetus and the mother makes for a more complex situation than if they were biologically separate. Yet none of this will ever possibly overrule the right of an innocent human to live. Reconsidering Directions This isn’t the way the Social Work licensing bodies see the matter. For them, a woman’s choice to abort her child is something left to self-determination, and a Social Worker is required by law and ethical code to submit to that requirement, especially if they work for an organization that receives state-funded grants. This was a major limitation for my ability to pursue Social Work, since so many human services positions, even those not at pregnancy centers or domestic abuse shelters, have a strong possibility of eventually having one faced with a woman seeking an abortion, and then being under legal requirement to provide her information about her (presently legal) option to have one. This can extend as far as referring her to a clinic and transporting her for the performed services. Such a thing was unacceptable for me to do. I was fortunate to consult with faculty and admissions staff at several different programs on this issue. They commonly asked whether it would be acceptable for me to simply refer a client seeking an abortion to another social worker, as this would keep me within the requirements of the law. This, however, wasn’t a viable solution – finding a proxy whom I knew would proceed to do what I was originally supposed to do at my behest doesn’t get me off the hook. Referring them to someone else for abortion referrals validates the decision of abortion, even if I’m not the one doing the talking. When it came down to it, I decided it simply didn’t make sense to pursue social work anymore, seeing as these restrictions would be common in many positions, severely limiting my own professional opportunities. My career search is ongoing, but the issue is so central to any field of human services and healthcare that it won’t be the last time I will brush up against this. There are federal protections in place for direct healthcare workers, but no such ones for the many indirect human service and administrative staff that also play a role (Office of Civil Rights, 2023). As we approach the possibility of having medically assisted suicide legalized in New York, such issues will extend to any place that touches on this. Will therapists be legally mandated to refer their client for suicide assistance? Will social work staff in nursing homes, assisted living centers, centers for those with developmental disabilities, and other vulnerable populations be required to do the same? These laws, besides being unethical and destructive, create substantial limits for the employment of, frankly speaking, most religious persons, plus any secular persons who are skeptical of the ethical viability of assisted suicide. We risk losing devoted employees in civil service, non-profit, and healthcare positions who bring important skills and perspectives by creating legal mandates for conscientious objectors to provide, refer for, and facilitate both abortions and assisted suicides. A Way Forward “Social workers respect and promote the right of clients to self-determination and assist clients in their efforts to identify and clarify their goals. Social workers may limit clients’ right to self-determination when, in the social workers’ professional judgment, clients’ actions or potential actions pose a serious, foreseeable, and imminent risk to themselves or others.” (Read the Code of Ethics, n.d.) The good news is that anti-abortion measures are already written into the NASW code of ethics. A woman with serious intention to seek an abortion, or the man who impregnated her making an effort to have her do the same, should come under the Social Worker’s professional obligation to limit their client’s “right to self-determination” due to the imminent threat to the fetal human. The social worker already does this in the case of, say, a client speaking of serious plans to cause harm to another adult person, or subjecting their children to abuse. If the social work profession understands its duty to protect the fetal life just as well, this authority can be extended to threats of abortion. This highlights that key point that we must make understood in the Social Work profession, upon which the mistake of pro-choice advocates rests: that a Being becomes a Being at the joining of sperm and egg, and so we have responsibility to extend the treatment we give to out-of-womb beings to it as well. This does complicate matters for the pregnant woman and her partner, this is no doubt true, and resources and support must be readily available in the absence of abortion access. The recognition of human personhood beginning at conception, alongside the necessity of universal support for both the fetus and the mother, is essential for the Social Work field to truly encompass its ideals. References: Office for Civil Rights. (2023, January 10). Conscience and Religious Nondiscrimination. HHS.gov. https://www.hhs.gov/conscience/conscience-protections/index.html Read the Code of Ethics. NASW, National Association of Social Workers. (n.d.). https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English Reproductive Rights are Human Rights. NASW, National Association of Social Workers. (2022). https://www.socialworkers.org/Advocacy/Policy-Issues/Reproductive-Rights-Are-Human-Rights "https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/close-up-woman-leading-team_12689863.htm#query=woman%20social%20work&position=1&from_view=search&track=ais

FCLNY's Regional Coordinator Erin Ortega January, 2023, Washington, D.C. For the last 5 years I have been serving in a crisis pregnancy center in the Hudson Valley of NY, about 90 mins north of NYC. We are the only pregnancy center in Orange county and the only one in 4 counties that provides onsite ultrasounds. We serve women from the tristate area. 75% of the hundreds of women I’ve worked with were either considering abortion or determined to have one. We opened a maternity home in March 2020. Overturning Roe is surely a victory. Because any non violent effort made to protect those who cannot protect themselves is a victory. After all, I’ve never met a single woman who wants an abortion. I have met hundreds who are convinced it’s their only choice. Roe is gone but our work in NY, and other “sanctuary” states just got harder. Women are finding out they’re pregnant earlier, and getting abortions more conveniently. Just look at mail order chemical abortion and over the counter pills coming to convenience stores and pharmacies. Women in crisis are more desperate and misinformed than ever before. The time we get to spend with the women in the pregnancy center is often the only time during their entire pregnancy where someone has told them they have the strength to choose life for their babies. We are the only voice who hasn’t told them to abort. They go back to a world where their boyfriend, parents, friends, work, school, and society tell them the easy choice is to abort and that an abortion will bring “everything back to normal.” As Pro-Life Feminists, Whole-Life Advocates, Consistent life Promoters we have our work cut out for us. But outlawing a federal right to abortion did not outlaw the fear, the devastation, the guilt, the shame, the brokenness, the tornado of grief that swirls around many women when they find out they're pregnant, unexpectedly. Overturning Roe did nothing to change the fact that I’ve never had to convince a woman it’s a baby inside her. I have had to encourage, empower, and love each one of them into understanding their capacity to be good mothers, including loving birth mothers. That’s all they want. She says, “I want to keep the baby, but I just can’t right now.” She knows how much sacrifice has to be made, how many sleepless nights, how many days taken off of work, or semesters taken off of school. A child is supposed to cost $200,000 before they hit college. And that was before inflation. Even those who choose abortion seem to feel like that’s a lesser of two evils. “My baby will suffer so I’ll prevent it from suffering,” like a mercy killing. She doesn’t want to cause the baby pain. She wants to give her baby the best life possible, but she feels ill equipped to do that. While every voice around her joins that chorus she’s not strong, equipped enough, loved enough to be a mom Friends, what’s the future? How are we, a group of political misfits and activists who care for mom AS MUCH AS baby ….going to move froward? Roe is gone. That doesn’t mean a thing for me in New York. I’ll tell you how we move forward. We change tactics. We rethink our strategy. We must work together more than ever before to help remove the crisis from the pregnancy, not the pregnancy from the crisis. As long as pregnancies keep happening, abortions will exist. Half of all pregnancies are unplanned, and half of those end up in abortion. But that means the other half are carried to term. We have to reach women and girls before they get to that decision-making time in their lives. No pregnant person has abortion on their bucket list. Abortions are the consequence of years of missteps, lack of sexual education, lack of trust from family and close friends, lack of support, lack of education, and lack of understanding about resources, just to name a few. We have to combat the abortion industrial complex differently now. We can fight the root causes of abortion, we can educate, we can empower, and provide hope. But most of all we can bring an end to abortion through unity and love. From my experience the number one reason women choose life for their unborn children is: SUPPORT. We have to be her support system. One woman said to me “I hear what you’re saying, but at the end of the day, I’m going to be the one up in the middle of the night changing diapers.” It’s takes a village to raise a child. We can be her village. We have to be her village, on the ground, in the trenches, in the heart break and the tears. We have to love her so well, she has no reason to abort. Imagine if women started telling their friends, “I have this amazing group of people, a support system and they can help you too.” What if the narrative became “pro-life people babysit for free.” We can save babies through saving women. No politics, no laws, no violence. Just love. So one day we can truly say “Abortions No More!”

Dear NYS Legislator: Feminists Choosing Life of NY (FCLNY) is a state-wide human rights organization that educates on the root causes and impacts of publicly sanctioned lethal violence. We have compiled a ten (10) bill package containing expansive measures regarding the well-being of women and children. Please find below pending laws we ask you to carefully consider; eight (8) we urge you to enact, and two (2) we ask you to oppose, on behalf of not only your constituents, but women and children across our great state. Sincerely, FCLNY www.fclny.org VOTE YES 1. UNBORN VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE ACT, S.5308 NYS Senate Codes Committee, March 1, 2023 NYS Assembly, No analogous bill This bill provides that an unborn child, at any age, may be a victim of an assault or homicide. The bill carefully exempts unborn children who die because of a legal abortion, normal medical treatment or because of actions taken by his/her mother. NYS repealed its long-standing fetal homicide law, and re-defined “person” for homicide purposes, when it enacted the Reproductive Health Act in 2019. As a consequence, NYS fell behind the majority of states that provide protection and justice for victims of violence, including unborn children. Scientific consensus is clear: Human beings begin their existence at fertilization. Under current NYS Penal Law, a person is defined as a “human being who has been born and is alive.” It is no longer a separate crime in NYS for third party criminal assailants to kill unborn children, regardless of their gestational age and despite whether they are ‘wanted’ or ‘unwanted.’ Neither is there any particular enhanced statutory penalty for abusers to harm or kill pregnant women. Homicide is a leading cause of death of pregnant women and their unborn children in the U.S. Homicide deaths for pregnant women are more prevalent than deaths from obstetric causes. In other words, more pregnant women die because of vicious attacks against them rather than for physiological reasons. It is now well documented that: "It's not high blood pressure, hemorrhage or sepsis that is more likely to kill pregnant women -- it's their husbands and boyfriends." The U.S. has a higher rate of intimate partner violence than other affluent countries, and the problem is growing. Pregnancy-associated homicides are also increasing, and most pregnant homicide victims are killed by third party criminal assailants– abusive current or former intimate partners. Violence against women is a “major public health” concern and a “violation of women’s human rights.” Violence against women, especially pregnant women, necessitates a comprehensive approach towards its alleviation and elimination, including prosecutorial tools for perpetrator accountability. The least any progressive society owes women and children is the opportunity to hold abusers accountable for violent acts perpetrated against them. 2. AFFORDABLE CHILD CARE STUDY, A.01852 NYS Senate, No analogous bill NYS Assembly Children and Families Committee, January 23, 2023 The bill purposes to help ensure access to affordable, quality child care in NYS for “low to moderate income families, especially for single parents.” It directs that “particular attention” focus on the relationship between child care subsidies and the “ability of working families to achieve self-sufficiency.” The bill directs the Office of Children and Family Service to conduct a study of child care availability, child care assistance and child care funding in NYS. The bill seeks to aid the Child Care Availability Task Force’s efforts to address the deficiencies of NYS’ child care system. The study the bill seeks to implement will “not only look at the current number of providers, but also the cost, quality, labor force, waiting lists and transportation barriers across the state” regarding child care. Parents throughout NYS lack access to affordable, quality childcare. Research demonstrates that NYS’ child care system is in crisis, and “on the verge of collapse.” Various programs in NYS provide free or low-cost child care to poor families, including the EarlyLearn Program and the NYS Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP). Despite NYS’ efforts to improve access to child care, including increasing the income eligibility standards for child care subsidies, affordable child care for low-income parents and children is largely out of reach. For example, in NYC, “State funding will only cover 15% or 10,800 out of 72,000 of … eligible families.” According to the bill’s justification “only 22% of income-eligible families are receiving subsidies,” state-wide. For years, NYS has ineffectively and inefficiently addressed our state’s child care crisis through “piecemeal approaches and temporary solutions,” resulting in a child care system currently “on life support.” New York families deserve access to affordable, quality child care. 3. WORKING FAMILIES TAX CREDIT, S.277A, A.04022A NYS Senate Finance Committee, March 1, 2023 NYS Assembly Ways and Means Committee, February 17, 2023 This proposed law creates the New York Working Families Tax credit, which, among other things, provides working families a maximum tax credit of $1,500 per child, and, regardless of income, a minimum credit of $500 per child. The Working Families Tax Credit streamlines NYS’ Earned Income Tax Credit and Empire State Child Tax Credit “to provide working families with increased support while lessening the additional cost to the state.” It fills in gaps within the other tax credit schemes, including by applying to children from birth to 3 years old, and by eliminating “the cap on the number of children eligible to receive a credit.” Further, payments will be made to families quarterly rather than in one lump annual sum. The bills were introduced in response to the federal government’s unwillingness to recently renew the expanded federal child tax credit provided in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the ARPA child tax credit “ lifted 2.1 million children out of poverty. It helped drive child poverty to 5.2%, a drop of 46%, according to the bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure. Over 2 million New Yorkers, including nearly 715,000 children in NYS live in poverty. According to the Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy, NYS children are “more likely to live in poverty” than children in the vast majority of other states, with nearly one in five NYS children experiencing poverty. NYS rate of poverty also disproportionately impacts children of color. Minority children in NYS experience a near 30% poverty rate. Families with young children experience higher poverty rates than other families and “the birth of a child is the leading trigger of ‘poverty spells’ experienced by families.” The American Academy of Pediatrics reports the following regarding the impacts of poverty on children, The link between poverty and children’s health is well recognized. [P]overty in childhood continues to have a negative effect on health into adulthood. Poverty has direct negative effects on early brain development through the mechanism of toxic stress. Children growing up in low-income families and low-income neighborhoods face a daunting array of psychosocial and environmental inequities [including food insecurity and inadequate housing or homelessness]. Higher infant mortality rates among the impoverished [exist]. Children in the poorest 20% of urban populations in the United States are twice as likely to die before their first birthday compared with children in the richest 20% of the population.Children raised in poverty have been shown to have higher levels of depression and antisocial behavioral problems than those raised in families with adequate incomes. Depression in poor children younger than 18 years has been linked to substance abuse, poor academic performance, teen childbearing, and unemployment. The justification for the proposed Working Families Tax Credit estimates that the tax will result in a “13.4% reduction” in child poverty in NYS, with a “19.6% reduction” for children living in “deep poverty.” Poverty is a root cause of the most visceral harms experienced by members of our human family. Effective measures that reduce poverty should be government’s top priority. 4. DOULA DIRECTORY, S.1867, A.05435 NYS Senate, Passed, Referred to Senate Health Committee, March 1, 2023 NYS Assembly Health Committee, March 10, 2023 These pending bills require the Department of Health (DOH) to establish and maintain a Doula Directory on the DOH website, for Medicaid reimbursement and Doula promotion. Doulas are health care workers that provide physical, emotional, and informational support to women before, during and after the birth of children. It is well documented that the U.S. has the highest rate of maternal mortality “among high income countries,” and that women of color are disproportionately impacted. Maternal morbidity and mortality is a public health crisis, and has been for “far too long.” Poor infant and maternal health outcomes “pose a threat to the health, welfare, and quality of life” of women, children and families. NYS has not stepped up and continues to “lack adequate and equitable” health care for pregnant women. Women of color experience significantly higher rates of pregnancy complications and “mistreatment during the course of their pregnancy.” According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine doula care during pregnancy is “one of the most effective tools to improve labor and delivery outcomes,” including for minority women and children. Studies on the effectiveness of doula care conclusively demonstrate that women who are supported by a doula during labor and childbirth are less likely to require a cesarean birth or use pain medication, and more likely to give birth spontaneously, have a shorter labor, and feel satisfied with their birthing experience. Pregnancy involves two lives, mother and child. Helping both achieve health and wholeness is the hallmark of vibrant civilized societies. 5. PARENTAL NOTIFICATION OF ABORTION, MINORS, S.2911, A.03398 NYS Senate Women’s Issues Committee, Notice of Committee Consideration, March 16, 2023 NYS Assembly Health Committee, February 3, 2023 This proposed law requires “at least one parent or legal guardian” of an un-emancipated minor receive “written notification from a physician or his/her agent within 48 hours prior to the … performance of an abortion” on such minor child. " Exceptions are provided for in these bills. For example, parental notification is not necessary where minors obtain a judicial bypass or when “a medical emergency exists.” In light of the impacts of NYS’ Reproductive Health Act (RHA) on abortion policy in NYS parental notification requirements for minors seeking abortions is essential to the well-being of young women. Uncertainty surrounds the safety of abortions in NYS for women and girls because of the RHA, particularly due to its failure to require the Department of Health to track, report and publish categorized abortion complication data or to require abortion related ‘informed consent’ pre-abortions, while at the same time repealing long-standing common sense safeguards surrounding the abortion procedure in NYS. The RHA removed NYS’ statutory requirement that only duly licensed physicians perform abortions and that a second physician be present during surgical abortions performed on fetuses 20+ weeks gestation. The RHA neglected to define exactly who can perform abortions, including second and third trimester abortions. The RHA repealed NYS’ requirement that second and third trimester abortions be performed in hospitals, and failed to specifically require that these abortions occur in ambulatory surgical centers or similar facilities. The RHA also failed to require that all facilities that provide abortions undergo annual or random state health department inspections. Abortion complications increase where abortion guidelines are lax, like in NYS. Oregon, which has abortion policies similar to NYS, has more than double the averaged abortion complication rate (36.68) than all states (15.76) with more abortion regulations than Oregon and NYS, and that also track, report and publish abortion complication data. NYS does not publish any categorized abortion complication data. Young females that undergo abortions are also at risk for a slew of psychological problems. According to a 25 year longitudinal study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, females between the ages of 15-25 who had an abortion experienced “elevated rates of subsequent mental health problems including depression, anxiety, suicidal behaviours and substance use disorders,” which “persisted after adjustment for confounding factors.” In NYS, a minor can obtain an abortion during the first, second and third trimester of pregnancy, in a facility other than a hospital, ambulatory surgical center or similar facility, performed by an individual other than a physician, while lacking concrete knowledge of alternatives to abortion or the documented psychological risks associated with abortion, without notice to any parent, legal guardian, or any adult- other than the abortionist. A double standard exists in NYS relevant to minors or children, their engagement in potentially dangerous activities, and standards utilized for their protection. Parental involvement is required in NYS when minors get body piercings, but not when they undergo abortion procedures, even invasive surgical abortions. According to the American College of Pediatrics, [A]bortion should be treated as any other medical or surgical procedure. Medical care of children and adolescents uniformly requires written and verbal parental consent for any procedure – inside or outside of a medical office. For example, written parental consent is required for minor children to receive over-the-counter medications when in day care or at school. This is because appropriate medical care can only be provided within the context of the patient’s family and medical history. Physicians would be considered negligent if they did not obtain past medical and family history when providing care for a patient. This information is more crucial when a patient faces a surgical procedure that occurs in some abortions, and it is the parents who are more likely to have the complete medical information required for optimal medical care of the adolescent. Regarding potential abortion complications, the American College of Pediatrics says this, Parents or guardians of minors "help monitor an adolescent for complications after ... medical procedure[s]... ." They "help ensure compliance with medical instructions, prescriptions, and follow-up medical care. " In an Amicus Brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court on Roper vs. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005), a death penalty case involving a minor, the American Psychological Association argued against its applicability to minors and won. Their reasoning is similar to why minors cannot ‘consent’ to participating in sex trafficking: During adolescence “the brain has not reached adult maturity, particularly in the frontal lobes, which control executive functions of the brain related to decision-making.” When parental notification laws for abortion were introduced in Minnesota teens, 15-17 years old, became more sexually responsible, abortion rates for these minors markedly decreased and birth rates continued to fall for this population. Research from multiple sources including from states other than Minnesota also demonstrates “benefits when parental involvement laws are instituted, including a decrease in abortion rates without an increase in birth rates, a possible decrease in sexually transmitted infections, as well as a decrease in suicide and depression.” Minors cannot be subject to the death penalty. Neither can they consent to being sex trafficked under the law. Nor should they be subjugated to abortions as though they were adults. Abortion related parental notification empowers girls. 6. DIAPERS FOR FAMILIES, S.1210, A.02872 NYS Senate Finance Committee, January 24, 2023 NYS Assembly Ways and Means Committee, March 9, 2023 These bills provide a modest diaper allowance that will help the poorest of families afford diapers for their infants and toddlers. The proposed law provides low-income parents with children under the age of three (3) with an eighty (80) dollar quarterly diaper allowance. Over 11 million kids in the U.S. live below the federal poverty line, and a sizeable percentage are infants and toddlers, who need diapers, including in NYS. Diaper need is common among low-income families, and disproportionately impacts minority children. The lack of diapers increases health risks for children and is “associated with increased pediatric care visits.” It is well-cited that when poor families have sufficient diaper supplies, the overall health of their infants and toddlers improves and parents attend work more regularly. Providing diapers to underserved families also helps eliminate substantial short and long-term medical costs and increases state tax revenues. Tangible resources, including items as benign as diapers, have the power and potential to positively transform the lives of families in need. 7. HOSPITAL STAYS - POOR MATERNITY PATIENTS, NEWBORNS, S.1241, A.05966 NYS Senate Health Committee, On Floor Calendar, February 6, 2023 NYS Assembly Health Committee, March 24, 2023 These bills require Medicaid to cover the hospital stays of Medicaid maternity patients and newborns for “at least 48 hours after natural delivery and 96 hours following cesarean section.” If enacted into law, these bills will ensure “that those covered by Medicaid are not treated differently than those covered by private insurance. It establishes the same mandatory minimum periods of coverage under Medicaid that private insurers are bound to provide.” For almost three decades, 48/96 hour hospital stays in NYS for women and children after birth have been covered by private insurance. Such coverage has largely excluded economically disadvantaged women who are covered by Medicaid from receiving the same minimum coverage after delivery. Short hospital stays can be detrimental to the health of the mother and newborn, especially since conditions which affect newborns, including jaundice,”ductal-dependant cardiac lesions and gastrointestinal obstruction” are not apparent within the first 24 hours of life. In addition, studies show benefits to both mother and child as a result of longer hospital stays after birth, including, “more stable blood sugar” for infants and less “postpartum depression” for mothers. Disadvantaged mothers and newborns are as worthy of appropriate health care as those more privileged. Justice demands equal treatment of all people. 8. PREGNANT WOMEN AND HEALTH INSURANCE PENALTIES, S.201, A.02656 NYS Senate, Passed, Referred to Senate Insurance Committee, March 1, 2023 NYS Assembly Insurance Committee, January 26, 2023 These bills allow pregnant women to enroll in state “health insurance during a special enrollment periods without penalty” or fees. A primary purpose of this bill is to eliminate a potential financial barrier to obtaining health insurance coverage for pregnant mothers and their unborn children, including health insurance coverage for prenatal care. Prenatal care is covered by private health insurance as well as Medicaid. Prenatal care is essential to the health and well-being of mothers and their unborn children. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Women’s Health- Babies of mothers who do not get prenatal care are three times more likely to have a low birth weight and five times more likely to die than those born to mothers who do get care. Doctors can spot health problems early when they see mothers regularly. This allows doctors to treat them early. Early treatment can cure many problems and prevent others. This bill opens up vital, necessary services for women and children, including children in utero. Before passage, these bills should make it clear that the waiver of penalties and fees proposed apply to both mothers and unborn children in order for them to receive prenatal care and other healthcare that benefits both. Pregnant women should not be penalized for seeking prenatal care for themselves and their unborn children. VOTE NO 9. THE REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM AND EQUITY GRANT, S.348B, A.00361A NYS Senate, Passed, Referred to Senate Health Committee, January 24, 2023 NYS Assembly Health Committee, January 23, 2023 This proposed law provides funding to NYS “abortion providers and non-profit organizations to increase access to abortion,” including for out-of-state abortion seeking women. Under this program, grants would be issued by the NYS Department of Health to abortion providers and non-profit organizations to "expand building capacity," “fund uncompensated” abortion services “for those who lack coverage or for those whose coverage is not usable” and to “support the practical … needs for individuals facing barriers to abortion.” The bills define practical support as direct assistance that enables a person to obtain an abortion, “including but not limited to ground and air transportation, gas money, lodging, meals, childcare, [and] translation services.” Expansion of building capacity includes “the establishment of new or renovation of existing” abortion providing facilities. The bills were introduced anticipating that approximately 190,000 - 280,000 women will travel to NYS for abortions after the overturn of Roe vs. Wade. NYS does not need more abortion access. According to the Guttmacher Institute NYS already has an abortion rate MORE THAN 2x the national average and more than 250 abortion providing facilities within its borders. Further, rather than help fund any non-profit that provides abortion alternatives, including adoption services, these bills fund ONLY non-profits that help women obtain abortions. Without options there can be no choice. Women and girls in NYS and BEYOND are being incentivized to abort their children, especially minority females, considering abortions' disproportionate impact on minority communities. Rather than fund abortions for out-of-state persons with NYS taxpayer dollars, monies are desperately needed to fund services for women, children and families that reside in NYS, including affordable, quality child care, better pregnancy health care and assistance, tangible resources, including diapers, and tax credits that will lift people out of poverty. 10. NYS ABORTION TELEHEALTH PROTECTIONS, S.1066A, A.01709A NYS Senate, Passed, Referred to Senate Codes Committee, January 24, 2023 NYS Assembly Codes Committee, February 9, 2023 These bills ensure “telehealth services are explicitly included in existing safe-guards and protections for reproductive health care services,” enacted into law, June 13, 2022. In June of 2022 NYS’ Governor signed into law a package of bills enacted by the NYS Legislature aimed at protecting NYS abortionists, and abortion access for women and girls traveling to NYS from 'anti-abortion' states. This abortion-protecting bills package included The Fire Hate Act, S9039A/A10094A The law makes it unlawful to “attempt to or purport to prevent or limit travel” to NYS for legal abortions, or to engage in behavior that puts those who travel to NYS for abortions at risk of civil and criminal actions brought in Courts outside of NYS seeking to punish persons for traveling to NYS for legal abortions. NYS Abortion Providers, Extradition, Courts and Police S9077A/A10372A This law creates a “statutory exception for the extradition of abortion providers” regarding legal abortions performed in NYS on out-of-state abortion seeking women from anti-abortion states or states where the abortion performed in NYS would have been illegal if performed in that state. The law prohibits “courts from cooperating” with any “individual or out-of-state agency or department” regarding abortions performed legally in NYS on women from anti-abortion states. The law also forbids law enforcement from cooperating with any individual or out-of-state agency regarding “the provision of a lawful abortion” in NYS, and bars police officers from arresting “any person for performing or aiding in the performance” of a legal NYS abortion. NYS Abortion Providers and Medical Conduct S9079B/ A9687B Among other things, the law prohibits filing or initiating “professional misconduct” charges or “disciplinary measures” against healthcare practitioners for providing legal abortions in NYS to women who reside in anti-abortion states. The law further ensures that out-of-state, prospective NYS healthcare practitioners are NOT DENIED “licensure, certification or authorization” to perform abortions in NYS solely on the basis of being subject to disciplinary actions by another jurisdiction for performing abortions otherwise legal in NYS. NYS Abortion Providers & Medical Malpractice Insurance Claims S9080B/ A9718B Among other things, the law prohibits medical malpractice insurance companies from taking “any adverse action” against NYS healthcare practitioners for performing legal NYS abortions, including such abortions on out-of-state women from anti-abortion states. The law protects NYS health care practitioners from medical malpractice insurance claims for legally prescribing “abortion medication to out-of-state patients by means of telehealth.” Adverse actions include, but are not limited to "refusing to renew or execute a contract or agreement with a healthcare provider; making a report or commenting to an appropriate private or governmental entity regarding practices of such provider which may violate abortion laws in other states; [] increasing in any charge for, or a reduction or other adverse or unfavorable change in the terms of coverage or amount for, any medical malpractice insurance contract or agreement with a healthcare provider." NYS Abortion Providers, Others, and Address Confidentiality, S9384A/A9818A This law expands NYS’ Address Confidentiality Program (ACP) to allow individuals associated with abortion to enroll. People eligible to enroll, under this law, include abortion providers, their immediate family members, employees, volunteers and patients, including persons who assist others in obtaining abortions at the request of other persons. The justification for the law claims these persons “face threats of physical violence by anti-abortion extremists” and cite the National Abortion Federation for evidence. No mention is made regarding violent threats made by pro-abortion extremists against peaceful anti-abortion activists, for which there is ample evidence as reported in major news outlets. Women and girls deserve better than abortion. Abortion oppresses and degrades women, and kills children in utero. Our feminist foremothers including Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton fought against policies that treated women as property. During their lifetimes “both women vociferously condemned abortion,” or foeticide, the word they used to reference abortion. They shared a “revulsion of abortion.” According to Stanton, “When we consider that women are treated as property, it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit.” Pro-life feminists recognize the inherent value and dignity of all human beings. True feminism empowers and protects vulnerable human beings rather than seeks their destruction. Pro-life feminism promotes political, social and economic justice for all people throughout every stage of human development, beginning at conception through infancy and childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age, including through the natural end of life.

Open Blog: Postings are the opinion of the essayist. FCLNY is extremely grateful for the opinions offered and invite others to submit essays to: info@fclny.org. FCLNY recognizes that within the community of subscribers to the consistent life ethic there is a diversity of views as to how this ethic might be implemented in culture, philosophy and law. Not all views necessarily hinge on FCLNY’s opposition to publicly-sanctioned lethal violence. Some may expand that view. Others may narrow that view. Our open blog allows FCLNY supporters and guest essayists to explore these differences in order to achieve greater understanding between peers and within our communities. __________________________________________________________________ Jesus is Nonviolence incarnate. — Fr. Bernard Haring, C.Ss.R. Hypocrite! Take the plank out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye. -Matthew 7: 5 Let us remember that Jesus lived his whole life in a land that was occupied by a brutal Roman army. In the first reading in our Lectionary (Isaiah 2, 1-5) the prophet says the Messiah’s mission will be to give instruction in his ways and when we “walk in his paths” the result will be an end to war and militarism. Therefore, we should not be surprised that the real, only and pragmatic answer to our questions about war and how to end it can be found in the Gospel. In the Gospel, Jesus three times commands His disciples to “love your enemies.” (Matt. 6: 44 , Luke 6: 27, 35) Matthew, Mark and Luke record that Jesus answered a question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” by saying “You must not kill.” (Matt. 19: 18, Mark 10: 19, Luke 18: 20) If actions speak louder than words, the clearest indication of what Jesus would do (remember WWJD?) if he walked the earth in Ukraine today can be found in the account of Gethsemane. Here, Jesus was never armed. He refused Peter’s violent defense of his most innocent person. He healed the wound of his enemy Malchus, the servant of the High Priest who had come with an armed mob and a Roman cohort to arrest him. Jesus surrendered to his enemies without violence, the perfect illustration of “agape your enemies”. There was no time to suggest that Peter negotiate for “multilateral, verifiable disarmament” with the mob and the Roman military. Jesus commanded unilateral disarmament in the face of his impending death. Nonviolent love of enemies does not depend on any reciprocity on the part of the enemy. Agape is willing to suffer without the desire for retaliation. It does not ensure one’s safety. It did not ensure Jesus’ safety, though it did succeed in preventing further bloodshed on that occasion. Jesus refused to kill and he did not allow his disciples to kill. Western Christianity, with few exceptions, has justified war after war for 1700 years out of an idolatry of imperial, royal or state authority. Orthodox Christianity has done likewise since its beginning. The operative reality of all “Christian” just war theories has been to cede prerogative to the governing authority and “support the troops” who are doing the killing, while ignoring the teaching, the Way and the New Commandment of Jesus to love one another as he has loved us. (John 13: 34) The use of violence to solve problems posed by an unwanted pregnancy or an unwanted invader of your country may be legal or not. Unlike human laws, the Gospel Law of Love prescribes no punishment to enforce observance. Love cannot be coerced and the way Jesus loved us sinners included mercy and forgiveness, even for his murderers. Those who choose to observe Jesus’ New Commandment must begin with a steadfast refusal to kill the guilty or the innocent. Jesus did not advocate for laws or treaties to outlaw war. We have such international laws today but they have not worked. Jesus addressed individual conscience. When the Churches teach clearly and with authority what Jesus taught in relation to violence and killing, more people may come to believe and we may yet realize Isaiah’s vision of a disarmed, demilitarized, life affirming world. US Catholics might begin by removing the plank out of our own eye first before pointing out the splinter in the eye of Vladimir Putin and the Russian Orthodox Patriarch, an unholy alliance matched by most US Catholic bishops’ support for Joseph Biden’s militarism and war making. Before this war, it seemed the Church was about to do away with "Christian" just war theory. (CJWT) Rather than bringing back CJWT from the edge of oblivion, this war should end its subversion of the Gospel forever. Let the nonviolent love of Jesus disarm us all! Essayist: Mark Scibilia-Carver Photo by Stacey Franco on Unsplash

Open Blog: Postings are the opinion of the essayist. FCLNY is extremely grateful for the opinions offered and invite others to submit essays to: info@fclny.org. FCLNY recognizes that within the community of subscribers to the consistent life ethic there is a diversity of views as to how this ethic might be implemented in culture, philosophy and law. Not all views necessarily hinge on FCLNY’s opposition to publicly-sanctioned lethal violence. Some may expand that view. Others may narrow that view. Our open blog allows FCLNY supporters and guest essayists to explore these differences in order to achieve greater understanding between peers and within our communities. __________________________________________________________________ Proposed South Carolina Equal Protection Act of 2023 https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/03/14/south-carolina-bill-abortion-death-penalty/11471997002/ Response by Margaret Smerbeck, Feminists Choosing Life of New York, Supporter I am still shaking my head in disbelief regarding a proposed South Carolina bill advocating the death penalty for women who’ve had abortions. Anyone who believes in a consistent life ethic should be outraged at this hypocrisy. SC Rep. Rob Harris, the bill’s author, stated, “If we define it as life…it needs to be protected like any other life.” Harris should apply that same definition of life to those he claims the state condemn to death. Protecting human life from womb to tomb includes death row inmates. While we’re at it, examine the shamefully disproportionate percentage of people of color on death row. Lack of adequate representation, racial profiling and overall resources lead to this discrepancy. Can we possibly take a break from the endless debate of laws and rights and find more ways to support life choices of those already marginalized? We can’t even come close to calling our country “great” if even just one state has the death penalty. Credit: Pix4Free.org

For Immediate Release: February 20, 2023 Media Contact: Emily Cappello, 716 261-6786, info@fclny.org In what appears to be a flagrant disregard for NY’s Open Meetings Law, representatives of Western New Yorkers hosted a ‘public’ town hall zoom meeting concerning local allocations relevant to NY’s 2024 budget, set for approval on April 1, 2023. “Of the four NY legislators that hosted the event, only two bothered to provide the general public with any notification, and the two that did, gave constituents just over twenty-four hours notice on their social media" claims Cecelia Lester, constituent of NY Senator Jeremy Cooney, one of the host legislators of the town hall. "Three of the host legislators claimed to have emailed those subscribed to their email notification lists, but that excludes the general public and those constituents not subscribed," states Lester. “NY’s Open Meetings Law was enacted for good reason,” says Michele Sterlace, Executive Director of Feminists Choosing Life of New York (FCLNY). “Proper notice of public meetings discussing public policy is “essential to the maintenance of a democratic society,” according to the laws own words,” she adds. “When members of the public are prevented from engaging, our policies reflect special interests. NY’s proposed 2024 budget contains allocations many New Yorkers oppose, including 25 million dollars for abortion access as well as potential allocations for assisted suicide, for example. Pro-life feminists and others have questions and concerns and our voices are being silenced.” According to Lester, vice president of FCLNY: “When I called Senator Cooney’s office in early February I was told I would receive notice of the next budgetary town hall meeting by email. After not receiving any email from Cooney or seeing any public notice posted on his website or social media I called his office and was told the meeting had already occurred. I re-scoured Cooney’s social media and found one tweet, and one Facebook post published on Sunday evening, February 12th, less than two hours before registration ended for the subject open meeting and less than 48 hours before the start of the public meeting on February 13th at 6 PM.” "Lester, along with others similarly situated, listened to the zoom recording of the public meeting after it occurred," says Sterlace. Lester explains: “Not a single criticism of the proposed budget was voiced. No unpolished, plain speaking private citizens were present, people interested in voicing concerns on behalf of their struggling families. No organizations that opposed the policies of the legislators were present either. Yet the meeting opened with all four representatives extolling the necessity of hearing the concerns of constituents in order to fulfill the highest potential of the community and its citizens. One host legislator called the budget a moral document, while another expressed a belief in the primacy of transparency.” “A dangerous disconnect is occurring between our elected representatives and the people,” says Sterlace. According to Lester, “The result is radical bills in NY are proposed and passed, such as NY’s Reproductive Health Act and possibly now, the pending Medical Aid in Dying Act. When legislators control the messaging they hear from constituents— an echo chamber of hyper partisanship reigns. This is why citizens are fleeing at record numbers,” Lester believes. “So many New Yorkers’ needs are unmet. Perhaps this is intentional, to reinforce the echo chamber and radicalize NY even further. What is certain,” Lester adds, “it will be increasingly difficult to craft a budget in NY with fewer and fewer taxpayers.”

“I dream of a world where we can commit our social resources to the development of human life and not to its destruction.” Benazir Bhutto (1953-2007), born into an elite political family in Pakistan, was the first female prime minister of Pakistan and the first elected head of an Islamic State. She studied politics, philosophy and economics at Harvard and Oxford Universities and while in the United States, actively protested the war in Vietnam. In 1977, Bhutto’s father, founder of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) was re-elected as Prime Minister, but was soon accused of conspiracy and thrown into jail. At this time, Bhutto was placed under house arrest. Her father was eventually executed, and Benazir, exiled to Great Britain. In 1986, she returned to Pakistan where, at the urging of the PPP, soon began to campaign for political office herself. Benazir’s political agenda included ending hunger, providing reproductive health education for women, reversing gender discrimination and other policies designed to improve the lives of women. She served as Pakistan’s Prime Minister from 1988-1990 and again from 1993-1996. Each time, she was removed from office by the sitting president for unsubstantiated charges of corruption and incompetence. Once again, she was exiled. In 1994, Benazir delivered the keynote address to the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development calling for a global partnership to improve human conditions and increase aid to help stabilize unchecked population growth in Pakistan. “I dream of a Pakistan, of an Asia, of a world where every pregnancy is planned, and every child conceived is nurtured, loved, educated and supported.” She rejected abortion as a method of population control and laid out a plan that instead included efforts to reduce infant mortality, greater education and economic independence for women and increased access to services saying, “empowerment of women is part of the battle.” In 2007, upon returning to Pakistan amid death threats and a deadly suicide bombing, Benazir was assassinated in Rawalpindi on October 18. Following her death, widespread violence erupted. Her suspected assassin was killed in 2009 during a US led drone attack. (Image by Oliver Mark)

Nat Hentoff “Once the sperm and egg meet…you now have a human being…it’s not a kangaroo, it’s not a giraffe, it‘s a human being…therefore if you kill it…you are killing a developing human being.” Nat Hentoff (1925-2017) was a prolific writer and civil libertarian who is best known as an outspoken defender of free speech as well as a preeminent American Jazz Critic. Born and raised in Boston and a graduate of Northeastern and Harvard Universities, Hentoff wrote many books and was a contributor to Downbeat Magazine, the New Yorker, the Washington Post, and the Jazz Times. He also wrote regular columns for the Village Voice and The Washington Times. He came to his pro-life position when covering the Baby Doe case where the courts essentially ruled that some lives are not worth living. He wrote about the abusive experiences of prolife feminists at the 1992 Democratic National Convention and directly criticized Ken Burns for his exclusion of the anti-abortion position of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton in his documentary, Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Hentoff was active in the Civil Rights Movement and protested the Vietnam War. In 1972, he called out the New York Times for referring to the North Vietnamese as “the enemy” saying, “It is much easier for Americans to distance themselves psychologically from the daily atrocities done in their name if they keep seeing their victims — including children — … as the enemy.” As a Jewish atheist, Hentoff wrote articles about the Catholic Church and Islam and after the so called Peace Agreement in Darfur, challenged President Bush to form an international coalition to stop the on-going genocide of black Muslims in Darfur. Despite his influence shaping the modern conversation about such important topics as free speech, Hentoff’s greatest joy was jazz music. He interviewed such jazz greats as Duke Ellington and Miles Davis and worked with Billie Holiday and Lester Young in The Sound of Jazz, a televised jazz program that turned out to be the last performance between Holiday and Young. Nat Hentoff was the first non-musician to be named Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts. Hentoff granted an Honorary Doctorate of Law from Northeastern University and was involved with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. He was also the subject of the 2013 documentary, Pleasures of Being Out of Step.

Dear NYS Legislator: Feminists Choosing Life of NY (FCLNY) is a statewide human rights organization that educates on the root causes and impacts of publicly sanctioned lethal violence. We have compiled a ten (10) bill package containing expansive measures regarding maternal and child wellbeing. Please find below pending laws we ask you to carefully consider; eight (8) we urge you to enact, and two (2) we ask you to oppose, on behalf of not only your constituents, but women and children across our great state. Sincerely, FCLNY www.fclny.org VOTE YES! 1. Universal Child Care Act, S7595 and A8623. The cost of day-care in New York is among the least affordable in the country. This act would make childcare fully affordable for all New York families, and increase compensation for child care workers. In 2021, New York’s Child Care Availability Task Force determined that the child care system in NY is in a state of crisis, and in need of a dramatically new approach to addressing unmet needs of working parents or student parents. Under the current Child Care Subsidy Program, families are eligible for financial assistance on an extremely limited basis. In some regions, a family of four with two parents working forty hours per week making minimum wage do not qualify for subsidies, and childcare costs 55.4% of their income. The Child Care Availability Taskforce (CCAT) reports that many child care workers in NY are dramatically underpaid. According to the CCAT, 15% of NY’s child care workforce live below the poverty line and 65% receive public benefits as a result of their low income. This leads to issues of high turnover rates and understaffing within the child care system. This act also proposes a new cost estimation model to accurately pay child care workers and providers for their services, as well as a fund to finance startups in regions where childcare services are unavailable. By increasing child care affordability, NY will be making an investment in the future, since it is estimated that for every $1 spent on child care and education in New York, “$1.86 is generated in additional spending within the state.” 2. Unborn Victims Of Violence Act, S2669 and A5729. Homicide is a leading cause of death for pregnant women, making pregnant women and their unborn children especially vulnerable to violence. Pregnancy increases women’s risk of violence perpetrated by intimate partners, including lethal and non-lethal assaults. These bills would redefine the penal law to include unborn children among those who can be victims of assault or homicide. It would also amend the definition of person, when referring to a victim of assault or homicide, to include "an unborn child at any stage of gestation." There are exceptions in the bill for women who choose to have an abortion and for persons performing legal abortions on consenting women. Bills present question whether mothers could be held criminally liable for assaulting their unborn children, by taking drugs or otherwise self-harming, or by performing self-abortions. For the purpose of these bills, FCLNY believes pregnant women should be exempt from criminal prosecution for any behavior relating to their unborn children, and these bills should be amended accordingly. 3. Assistance Purchasing Diapers For Families In Need, A3451A and S63A. “Not having enough clean diapers exposes a baby to many potential health risks.” Approximately, sixteen percent of all kids nationwide currently live in poverty in the US. That’s 11.6 mil­lion children and the number is growing. “Notably absent from [most] anti-poverty efforts targeting families is an essential staple for the health of children, diapers.” This proposed law creates an allowance for the poorest of parents (TANF eligible) to receive assistance in purchasing diapers for their children. The quarterly allowance will provide parents with up to eighty dollars every three months for every eligible child (infants up to 2 years old). 4. Medicaid Coverage Of Longer Hospital Stays For Maternity Patients And Newborns, S916 and A3386. For decades, 48 hour hospital stays in NY for women and children after birth have been covered by private insurance. This has largely excluded economically disadvantaged women who are covered by Medicaid from receiving the same minimum coverage after delivery. Short hospital stays can be detrimental to the health of the mother and newborn, especially since conditions which affect newborns, including jaundice, are not apparent within the first 24 hours of life. In addition, studies show benefits to both mother and child as a result of longer hospital stays after birth, including, “more stable blood sugar” for infants and less “postpartum depression” for mothers. These pending bills would extend Medicaid coverage of hospital stays for a minimum of 48 hours following childbirth by natural delivery and 96 hours for childbirth by cesarean section. 5. Born Alive Abortion Survivors' Protection Act, S2569 and A4429. The Reproductive Health Act, enacted in 2019, "eradicated all legal protections in law for infants born alive as the result of an abortion procedure," according to NYS legislative memoranda . The CDC reports that infants subject to abortion are sometimes born alive. This lack of protection leaves these born children vulnerable. Under this new proposed law, any health care practitioners present during abortions or attempted abortions are required to "exercise the same degree of care to preserve the life and health of the child" (born alive during abortions or attempted abortions) he or she would render to "any other child born alive at the same gestational age" as well as "ensure the child born alive is immediately transported and admitted to the hospital." A violation of this provision would be a class A misdemeanor. Additionally, an individual who intentionally performs or attempts to perform an overt act that kills a child born alive during a botched abortion would be guilty of intentionally killing or attempting to kill a human being. 6. Relates To-Maternal And Infant Mortality And Morbidity, A307-A and S1411-A. In January 2021, the New York State Expert Panel on Postpartum Care, which was created at the recommendation of the Taskforce on Maternal Mortality and Disparate Racial Outcomes, released a report with recommendations. One recommendation includes extending Medicaid complete pregnancy care coverage for a year after giving birth. These bills extend complete pregnancy care coverage provided by Medicaid from 60 days after delivery to a full year. Not only would the bills extend pregnancy care coverage for a woman’s physical health for a full year after delivery, but access to mental health and substance abuse disorder treatments, to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity. The CDC reports that from 2011 to 2015, about 33% of pregnancy-related deaths occurred within one week to one year after delivery, demonstrating that postpartum women are still vulnerable to serious health complications up to one year after giving birth. 7. Parental Notification Of Abortion On A Minor, A3780. A double standard exists in NY relevant to minors or children, their engagement in potentially dangerous activities, and standards utilized for their protection. Parental notification is required in NY when minors get body piercings, their teeth drilled or bone x-rays, but not when they undergo abortion procedures, even invasive surgical abortions. When parental notification laws for abortion were introduced in Minnesota, for example, teens, 15-17 years, became more sexually responsible, abortion rates for these minors markely decreased and birth rates continued to fall for this population. The proposed legislation requires that at least one parent or legal guardian of an un-emancipated minor receive a written notification 48 hours prior to the performance of an abortion. The parental notification requirement within the bill contains the US constitutionally required judicial bypass mechanism. 8. Services For Human Trafficking Victims/ Airports, A9169 and S8262. It is estimated that worldwide, there are 24.9 million victims of human trafficking at any given time. The NYS Interagency Taskforce on Human Trafficking’s most recent report found that in 2019, 1,541 people were confirmed victims of human trafficking in NY alone. Reports from the International Organization for Migration estimate that “almost 80 percent of journeys undertaken by victims trafficked internationally cross through official border points, such as airports and land border control points.” These bills mandate that Port Authority Airports place informational cards and/or signs in a prominent location in their public restrooms. The cards and signs would contain information about services for human trafficking victims and the national human trafficking hotline number. VOTE NO! 9. Pregnancy Resource Center Study, S470 and A5499 . These bills call for a study of only pregnancy resource centers (organizations which provide help to pregnant women-excluding abortion services or abortion related referrals) in order to examine the unmet health and resource needs of pregnant women in NY. The bills further aim to examine the impact of only these centers on pregnant women, including whether these centers provide accurate, non-coercive health care information. Unlike the majority of states, NY does not have informed consent laws which require, among other things, that women receive information regarding life-affirming resources for themselves and their unborn children. Georgia, for example, requires abortionists to have materials available that “list agencies that provide alternatives to abortion,” in addition to information concerning fetal development. Health care providers in NY that include abortion services, offer little to no resources to pregnant women regarding abortion alternatives, including information and referrals to material supports to help poor women bring pregnancies to term. If the Legislature truly wishes to understand the unmet needs of pregnant women in NY, as it should, the study proposed by these bills should also examine the impact of a broader range of providers of pregnancy related women's services, in NY, including those that provide abortion services and referrals, such as Planned Parenthood. FCLNY urges these bills be amended accordingly. 10. Requires SUNY To Offer Medication Abortion, A3322. This bill would require “SUNY to offer abortion by medication techniques at all on-campus student health centers at colleges or universities within the SUNY system and creates a fund to help finance the implementation of offering such services at SUNY on-campus student health centers.” According to the Mayo Clinic, medication abortions pose potential health risks to women, and require certain minimum safety standards, protocols the SUNY bill fails to require. Additionally, The Federal Drug Administration documents Mifepristone hospitalizing women and causing numerous deaths from infection, ruptured ectopic pregnancies, and hemorrhaging.

*Version published in The Buffalo News, Feb. 2, 2022 On the highway heading south through downtown Buffalo, a billboard is displayed which describes New York’s current abortion policy, and calls for a repeal of the Reproductive Health Act (RHA). The billboard elicits much needed attention to the inconsistencies between New York’s abortion laws, current scientific understanding of fetal viability, and the public’s lack of support for later-term abortion (20+ weeks gestation). Viability is the ability of an unborn baby to survive outside of a mother’s womb, with or without medical intervention. In 1970, New York first legalized on-demand abortion pre-viability, which at the time rested within 24 weeks gestation. Decades later, in 2019, despite medical science and public consensus opposing later-term abortions in New York, the RHA was passed, which continued to legalize abortion for any or no reason within 24 weeks of pregnancy. By 2019, however, it was crystal clear that unborn children can be viable before this gestational age. In the past 50 years, neonatal medical treatments have improved significantly and the age of fetal viability has decreased. Developments in science, technology, and treatment practices have enabled premature babies as young as 22 weeks, and even younger , to survive outside of their mothers' wombs. This change was not unforeseen. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor predicted that Roe v. Wade (1973), which legalized pre-viability abortion nationally, would be “on a collision course with itself” as medical advances moved the viability line increasingly closer to fertilization. According to the most recent data from Johnston’s Archive, every year, between 9,100 and 15,400 abortions occur after 20 weeks gestation in the U.S. NY contributes disproportionately to these numbers, with an average of 1,660 reported abortions after 20 weeks each year. As the billboard illustrates, unborn children within 24 weeks can be aborted on-demand in NY, despite their viability. Neither fetal anomalies nor risks to women’s health are necessary to abort these children. Further, fetal anomalies or risks to mothers' lives or physical health are NOT the primary reasons why the majority of later-term abortions occur, including third trimester abortions. Like first trimester abortions, studies show that most second and third trimester abortions are "elective, done on healthy women and healthy fetuses." In a progressive state that claims to recognize the fundamental rights of the most vulnerable, it is a contradiction to arbitrarily ignore science and to allow for the wanton destruction of human beings – viable babies in utero who no longer need the bodies of their mothers to live. When scientific evidence regarding human viability has advanced, so should the law, for the sake of humanity. Nothing less dehumanizes and undermines democracy. The New York State Legislature elevated political ideology above science and human rights by enacting the RHA. Photo Credit: Graham's Foundation