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Trolling for PPFA support, NY Gov. Cuomo calls for Constitutional Amendment to “codify” Roe v. Wade

Feb 2, 2017

By Dave Andrusko

Pro-abortion NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo with Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards on Monday. (Hans Pennink / AP)

Pro-abortion NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo with Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards on Monday. (Hans Pennink / AP)

It is the least best kept secret in New York state politics that Democratic pro-abortion-to-the-maximum Gov. Andrew Cuomo has presidential fever, big time. He really does think there is a nationwide audience for his brand of pro-abortion militancy.

So it came as no surprise that on Monday, the day before pro-life President Donald Trump nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, Cuomo told an enthusiastic Planned Parenthood rally that he is pushing to “codify” Roe v. Wade via an amendment to the state Constitution.

“We will not allow the progress of the women’s movement to be stopped, and we must seize this opportunity to bring the state and the nation forward and stand up for women’s health,” Cuomo bellowed. “Make no mistake, we will always protect the right to choose in New York.”

Pro-abortionists said thank you, but…

Amending the state Constitution is a complicated, time-consuming process. It must be approved by two consecutive sessions of the Legislature. If that is accomplished, the measure goes on the ballot. Even if advocates were to expedite the proposed amendment, it would not be on the ballot until 2019.

That’s why state pro-abortion politicians want to “codify” Roe via state statute, which has been tried unsuccessfully before.

“Attempts to write the protections from Roe v. Wade into New York’s laws have been tried for a decade, beginning with former Gov. Eliot Spitzer in 2007, and continuing with Cuomo,” said reporter Karen DeWitt. “The measure has stalled in the Republican-led state Senate.”

Of course, if Roe v. Wade were overturned, abortion law would return to the states where it resided prior to 1973. And New York is about as pro-abortion as you could possibly imagine

Dennis Poust, a spokesman for the New York State Catholic Conference, questioned why it would even be needed. “No one can credibly claim that access to abortion is under any threat in New York,” he told reporters.

Which brings us full circle to Cuomo’s insatiable political ambitions.

An editorial in the Times Herald-Record, favorable to the proposal, tried its best to dismiss the common perception that Cuomo is merely posturing.

The governor’s proposal immediately brought criticism from foes of abortion rights, some noting that this is merely an attempt by Cuomo to cozy up to Planned Parenthood and its supporters in an effort to burnish his liberal credentials so he can run for president in 2020.

One member of the Assembly, a foe of abortion rights, said the governor was making this political.

But not so, we’re told. “Cuomo is not making this a political issue,” argues the editorial. “It is political now and always has been.”

Oh, now I get it. Appearing (adorned with a pink scarf, no less) in front of an adoring Planned Parenthood crowd the day before Judge Gorsuch’s nomination, was not an attempt to get in the good graces of Planned Parenthood, whose political arms spent multiple tens of millions promoting pro-abortion Democrats, or to get a jump on the many other pro-abortion Democrats who will be running for President four years from now.

In fact what he said at the rally is part of a long and clear-cut pattern. As a pro-abortion liberal in good standing, Cuomo, of course, loathes pro-lifers.

Just over three years ago, in off-the-cuff remarks to reporters, Cuomo said that “extreme conservatives who are right-to-life” have “no place in the state of New York, because that’s not who New Yorkers are.” This remark had traction because of Cuomo’s volcanic temper and his history of abortion advocacy which is second to none.

But according to Cuomo, in a letter to the editor of the New York Post, that’s not what he said. He accused the Post of being “entirely reckless with facts and the truth.”

The governor’s office included a transcript which (it argued) showed that Cuomo was saying only “that an extreme right candidate cannot win statewide because this is a politically moderate state.” (“Politically moderate”?!)

In fact, that’s not what the transcript says or suggests.

Cuomo was saying that if you didn’t agree with him on abortion, you are an “extreme conservative” who is “right to life.” Period, end of sentence.

And that you are not a real New Yorker so find someplace else to live. Still another example of Cuomo’s well-earned reputation as a bully.

Cuomo, contrary to the Times Herald-Record editorial, is just another Democrat jockeying for position in anticipation of the intra-party fight to be the Democrats’ 2020 presidential nominee. You only earn a few points for being pro-abortion (since all the candidates will be pro-abortion), so why not go over the top?

Cuomo continues to hope this makes for a huge harvest of convention delegates.

Categories: Roe v. Wade