Legislators should be cautious regarding Women’s Agenda

In his unqualified support of the NYS Women’s Agenda, hidden in the upcoming budget bill, Rabbi Dennis Ross makes the statement “our faiths affirm that abortion is basic health care”. My faith still worships the God who gave the commandment “Thou shalt not murder” to Moses on Mt. Sinai. The subterfuge of labeling a fetus as subhuman or nonhuman ignores the fact that premature births beyond about 20 weeks gestation can somehow magically turn into children if proper nutrition and care are provided. Do the faiths of the Concerned Clergy for Choice include worship of the god Baal to whom children were sacrificed?

The good Rabbi forgets to mention that the Women’s Agenda bill would allow nonphysicians, including midwives, to perform abortions. That would hardly be an improvement in health care safety. No wonder this bill is being hidden as a budget item. Several years ago it was rightly rejected as the tenth item of a set of women’s rights.

Contrary to the Rabbi’s view, contraception is not health care. The pill and other forms of birth control merely allow men to use women as sex objects, much to the detriment of both. The literal explosion of sexual activity after the introduction of the pill has resulted in a pandemic where nearly one in three Americans now has a sexually transmitted disease. Moreover, every birth control failure is a potential abortion because a baby is unwanted a priori.

NYS legislators, be very cautious and think carefully. Even now our state is losing federal representation due to low population. Don’t make it worse by killing more of our own.

Wendell Neugebauer