New York City gained infamy earlier this year when skyscrapers were illuminated pink to “celebrate” the state’s passage of some of the most barbaric and inhumane abortion legislation in the world. Last week, the city ventured further into the culture of death by becoming the first municipality to fund elective abortions directly.
The $250,000 one-time allocation from the city budget will go to the New York Abortion Access Fund, a group that pays for the elective abortions of low-income women. According to the New York Times, roughly one-third of the elective abortions are for women who travel to New York City from out of state.
New York City Mayor and presidential candidate in the Democratic primary Bill de Blasio announced the anti-Life budget proposal last week to cheers and praise from anti-Life pundits. City Council Speaker Corey Johnson worked with de Blasio to ensure the anti-Life funding, which was pushed by the Women’s Caucus on the city council.
The quarter million dollars will pay for as many as 500 elective abortions, although some abortions, especially at later stages, can be much more than $500. Late-term abortions, now legal for virtually any reason up to birth in New York City, are multi-day procedures that cost thousands of dollars.
However, the decision by the city council is not solely about funding abortion but also about sending a message to states across the nation that have passed strong Pro-Life protections. Councilwoman Carlina Rivera said, “This fund is just another signal, another example of how New York State and New York City has to be that leader on this issue [abortion].”
City Council Speaker Johnson said he looked “forward to working with them to figure out the best way to administer this fund with the organizations that advocated for it to target low-income women that really need this help and support.” In a city as anti-Life as New York, no one sees anything wrong with “targeting” low-income women to kill their preborn babies. These are babies who are likely being targeted for death by abortion because of the simple fact that they might be born into poverty. The message from New York City? You are better off dead than poor, and we will pay to ensure your death.
As Live Action rightly noted, data do not support the idea that women want abortion. The people advocating for abortions for economically insecure mothers are wealthy people. A 2016 poll by Politico and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that the majority of voters do not support taxpayer-funded abortion. A stark divide exists between higher-income voters and lower-income voters. The survey found “voters making more than $75,000 were more supportive of using Medicaid funds for abortion services (45% favor) than those making $25,000 or less (24% favor).”
Nonetheless, the New York Abortion Access Fund sees forcing taxpayers to fund the targeted killing of preborn babies whose mothers are low-income directly as “something to celebrate!” as they wrote in a Facebook post following the announcement. No one should celebrate death or violence, especially when committed against vulnerable and defenseless preborn babies whose mothers experience economic insecurity. Violence in such conditions is truly barbaric.
Yet, anti-Life radicals in New York City are convinced they are performing altruism by demanding taxpayers pay for abortions. De Blasio said, “We understand that there are women who need help and are having trouble getting the help they need, and the city had an opportunity here to step up.” Elective abortion, the killing of an innocent son or daughter, is not the “help” women need. Being ushered to an abortion facility that has sent seven women to the hospital in botched abortion in the span of 16 weeks is not “help.”
New York wants to be known as a place where death is celebrated. They have already said that Pro-Lifers are not welcome. Pro-Lifers have a powerful response decades in the making: one of love for mother and child, genuine compassion, and real help. How can you send a Pro-Life message in your community today?
