New York doing the right thing

My body, my choice! These were the words of hundreds of women on Twitter following the Reproductive Health Act that New York Gov. Andrew Cuono signed into law Jan. 23.

I will start off saying I’m pro-choice — yes, your body is your body. And yes, I believe every life is a blessing. But I think the government shouldn’t have a say when it comes to your body. 

But, before reading the law, I did take a step back and think why would someone want to get an abortion after 24 weeks. That seems to be the consensus among others who aren’t reading the bill as well, causing a rift between the pro-life and pro-choice community. 

Since before Roe v. Wade was signed into law, New York had been a step ahead with abortions. So it’s no surprise they would want to stay ahead of the curve and make sure the women of New York are covered before Washington overturns Roe v. Wade, as rumors have many believing.

So lets break this down:

In the RHA, Article 25-A:

Section 2599-A (Policy and Purpose): The legislature finds that comprehensive Reproductive health care is a fundamental component of every individual’s health, privacy, and equality. Therefore, it is the policy of the state that:

1. Every individual has the fundamental right to choose or refuse contraception or sterilization.

2. Every individual who becomes pregnant has the fundamental right to choose to carry the pregnancy to term, to give birth to a child, or to have an abortion, pursuant to this article.

3. The state shall not discriminate against, deny, or interfere with the exercise of the rights set forth in this section in the regulation or provision of benefits, facilities, services or information.

It was also added in Section 2599-B (abortion): 1. Healthcare practitioner licensed, certified, or authorized under the title eight of the education law, acting within his or her lawful scope of practice, may perform an abortion when, according to the practitioner’s reasonable and good faith professional judgment asked on the facts of the patient’s case: The patient is within 24 weeks from the commencement of pregnancy, or there is an absence of fetal viability, or the abortion is necessary to protect the patient’s life or health.

In section 2599-A it says everyone has the right to choose to refuse contraception or sterilization. 

When I was 20 going on baby two, I had asked the doctor if sterilization was possible since I was going to have two kids (one of each gender) and I was ready to come to a halt. The doctor told me I had to be at least 20 years old with 3 kids to get my tubal done. WTF? But a man can walk into the doctor’s office and request a vasectomy, with no requirement. 

Now the kicker in 2599-B in the absence of fetal viability or an abortion is necessary to protect the patient’s life or health.  

Now where in there does it say the patient has a right to have an abortion after 24 weeks just because she wants to? Nowhere — it says after 24 weeks if there needs to be an abortion it is with the practitioner’s good judgment and/or if there is a nonviable fetus or if the mom could die. 

There are so many scenarios that can’t be thought of, so everyone needs to sit back and let others decide for themselves what they want to do with their bodies, their babies, because in the end it’s the mother who has to live with her own decision. 

At the end of the day you get to go home with your family and be thankful for what you have after guilting a 23-year-old woman into keeping a child who is going to have a tough time in this world living with half a brain, making her financially responsible for a decision she didn’t have a right to make because of you sticking in your nose where it doesn’t belong. 

New York is doing the right thing, with other states going as far as signing into the law the Heartbeat bill, it’s putting women into a position that will most likely place them into a welfare dependency.

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