UNBORN VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE
Sponsors:  S. Maltese / A. Seddio
Bill # S.403 / # A.7524

Under current law in New York State, if an unborn child is killed or injured as a result of actions taken against a pregnant mother, the offender may not be held criminally responsible for the harm caused to that child unless he or she has been born alive.  If the child is not born alive, the offender may only be held criminally responsible for harm or injury caused to the mother.

This legislation would close the existing loophole by providing that those who kill or injure an unborn child in New York at any stage of gestation may be held criminally responsible.  Sixteen other states (Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin) currently have statutes imposing criminal liability for the homicide of an unborn child in any stage of gestation.  An additional thirteen states recognize unborn children as victims during part of the period of prenatal development.  Note:  The federal Unborn Victims of Violence Act applies only to federal crimes.  The United States House of Representatives and U.S. Senate both passed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act in early 2004.

The New York Unborn Victims of Violence legislation would add a new section 120.45 to the Penal Law to provide that either a person or an unborn child in any stage of gestation may be the victim of: assault in the first, second or third degree; vehicular assault in the first or second degree; or aggravated assault upon a person less than 11 years old.  

CLONING BAN LEGISLATION
Sponsor: S. Meier
Bill # S.206  

S.206 is the only true and complete ban on human cloning currently before the New York State Legislature.  This bill would prohibit human cloning for any purpose.  Human cloning creates a living human being who is genetically the same as an existing human being.  It violates human dignity and medical ethics to allow experimentation on these members of the human family. This bill in no way hinders morally appropriate technology like adult stem cell research that is more predictable medically and produces greater results in the aggregate for sufferers of debilitating illnesses.  There are currently three counterfeit cloning bans, or “clone & kill” bills, proposed in the Assembly.  One of them, A.6249 (Silver), passed the Assembly in 2003 and is under consideration again this year.  

FETAL PAIN LEGISLATION
Sponsors:  S. Meier / A. Seminerio
Bill # S.1278 / # A.3431  

That the unborn, the prematurely born, and the newborn of the human species is a highly complex, sentient, functioning, individual is an established scientific fact.  That the human unborn and newly born do respond to stimuli is also established beyond any reasonable doubt.  The ability to feel pain and respond to it is clearly not a phenomenon that develops de novo at birth.

Over the years the study of the fetal EKG (electrocardiogram) and the EEG (electroencephalogram), through ultrasonography and fetoscopy, have demonstrated the remarkable responsiveness of the human fetus to pain, touch, and sound. By 20 weeks it is scientifically certain that the unborn can feel pain.  It is highly likely that they experience pain much earlier.  Elements of the pain-conveying system (spino-thalamic system) begin to be assembled at 7 weeks; enough development has occurred by 12 - 14 weeks that some pain perception is likely, and continues to build through the second trimester.  By 20 weeks, the spino-thalamic system is fully established and connected.

This bill would require that a physician provide a woman, requesting an abortion of a fetus twenty or more weeks, with fetal pain information. The physician who is to perform the abortion shall request the voluntary and knowing consent of the pregnant woman for the administration of an anesthesia or analgesic to eliminate or alleviate fetal pain during the course of the abortion.

SUPPORT PARENTAL NOTIFICATION
Sponsors: S. Padavan / A. Reilich

Bill # S.3951 / # A.5640
 
This bill would require 48 hours notification of one parent (custodial parent) prior to the performance of an abortion on an unemancipated minor.

Parental Notification legislation recognizes the guiding role a parent plays in the upbringing of a child, and acknowledges the agonizing pain that accompanies a teenager’s unexpected pregnancy.  It protects the parent’s right to know while at the same time providing the minor girl with the support, counsel and advice she needs from the parents.

RESTRICT MEDICAID FUNDING OF ABORTION  

Sponsor:  Senate Rules Committee

Bill # S.4877

Under New York State Social Services Law 365 - Only “medically necessary” abortions qualify for Medicaid reimbursement.  The figures from the New York State Department of Health for the 2000 report that 44,874 abortions, or 37.5% of the total number of reported Induced Abortions (125,146) in New York State were paid for with Medicaid tax dollars.  Obviously the law is being abused and New York State’s unsupervised reimbursement policy is unjustly forcing the taxpayers to fund abortion on demand.

The Medicaid program - a federal program - calls for the federal government to contribute 50% and the state and local government to share the other 50%.  Under the Hyde Amendment, the federal government pays for only abortions resulting from rape or incest or to protect the mother’s life.  New York State chooses not to seek federal reimbursement and chooses instead to provide abortion on demand.  New York State taxpayers are thus forced to fund 100% of Medicaid abortions in this state (50% paid with their state tax dollars; 50% with their local county dollars).

Medicaid funds are needed for true medical health problems in this state.  Abortion is not health care.

CLINIC REGULATION

(no bills introduced at this time)

There have been many instances where conditions far below customary medical standards have been exposed at abortion clinics.  Those conditions put vulnerable women at higher risk and indicate a need for better inspection of such facilities by the N.Y.S. Department of Health (DOH).  Abortion facilities should have to meet the same medical and cleanliness standards as hospitals.  As the vast majority of all induced abortions in our state are performed outside hospitals, it is imperative that clinics providing abortions are appropriately licensed, regulated and closely monitored.  The need for routine inspections, on a regular basis, is essential.

BREAST CANCER  /  ABORTION RESEARCH

(no bills introduced at this time)

There is a 90% increase in risk for breast cancer among women who have had abortions, according to a study published by a team of epidemiologists working for the New York State Department of Health (Howe, et al, Int. J. Epidemiol. 18:300-304).  The study was published in 1989 and examined the abortion histories of all 1451 cases of breast cancer diagnosed in women under age 40 in upstate New York between 1975 and 1980.  The study was limited to women under age 40 because abortion was legalized in 1970.  Consequently, only women under 40 would have spent most of their reproductive years during the time when abortion was legally available.  The Health Department never conducted a follow-up study.  Today, New York’s fetal death registry probably constitutes the best abortion database in the world, since it now dates back 30 years and includes some 5 million abortions.  Dr. Joel Brind, an endocrinologist on the faculty of Baruch College, requested the Commissioner of Health to direct the Department’s staff to conduct a follow-up study of the abortion-breast cancer link, or to allow him access to the Department’s data base for the same purpose.  The Commissioner of Health has refused both requests.

This bill amends the Public Health Law to provide access to Department records by bona fide scientific researchers who would be bound by the same rules of confidentiality as Department staff.

FAMILY PROTECTION ACT

Sponsors: S. Padavan / A. Barra

Bill # S.2893 / # A.6770

The Family Protection Act adheres to the legal standards set by the Supreme Court.  The law will give greater protection to women and young teenagers’ health, safety and life than now exists in N.Y. State.  At present there are almost no safeguards in N.Y. State law to protect women and/or girls from:  1) unsafe risks of abortion, 2) uninformed or misinformed consent, 3) being pressured or coerced into having unwanted abortions (by husbands, boyfriends, parents or even clinic counselors), 4) going through a life-altering and risky procedure without the benefit of her parent’s counsel and knowledge of her medical history.

The bill requires that: 1) women and parents of a minor daughter be given information on the risks of abortion; 2) 24 hours prior to an abortion the physician must inform the patient of the name of the physician performing the abortion and of the risks and alternatives that a reasonable patient would consider material to the decision to have or not to have the abortion; 3) the patient be informed of the medical assistance benefits that may be available for prenatal care, childbirth and neonatal care; 4) the patient be informed that the father of the baby is required to give child support if the baby is born; 5) probable gestational age of the unborn child is determined and if viable - or at 22 weeks gestation - the patient be informed of the right to request treatment most likely to preserve the life of the child, and that if the child is born alive the physician has the legal duty to take all reasonable steps to maintain the life and health of the child; 6) the patient be encouraged to have a sonogram, paid for by public assistance if needed; 7) the patient have the right to withdraw consent any time before/during the abortion; 8) the patient certify in writing that the information required has been provided; 9) the physician be liable for a civil lawsuit if informed consent is not valid or is coerced; and 10) the physician be guilty of a felony if he/she does not comply with the law.

FAMILY HEALTH CARE DECISIONS ACT

Sponsors:  S. Seward / A. Gottfried

Bill # S.5393 / # A.6315 

The New York State Right to Life Committee, Inc. strongly opposes this bill in its current form because:

(1)     The bill allows a physician or other health-care provider to override a surrogate’s choice for life-sustaining treatment, if the physician or other provider decides that the patient’s quality of life is not worth preserving.

(2)     The bill guarantees the right to reject life-sustaining care, but does not give equal treatment to a surrogate’s choice for life-sustaining care.

(3)     The bill authorizes a physician, in some circumstances, to make a “Do-Not-Resuscitate Order” without the patient’s knowledge, even though the patient is fully conscious and mentally competent.

This proposed legislation (aka Surrogate Decision Making bill) must be amended, as it is dangerously one-sided.

The New York State Right to Life Committee has proposed amendments to protect against each of the dangers listed above.  Our amendments simply provide that if a patient is denied treatment against his/her will, or that of his/her family, and such denial would in reasonable medical judgment be likely to result in the death of the patient, then the patient would be transferred to a doctor/facility that would provide treatment.