Bill Donohue comments on New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s abortion bill:
Andrew Cuomo’s lust for abortion rights has effectively killed his chances of ever becoming president of the United States. Tomorrow, he will unveil his proposal to allow abortions in New York through term. This is an act of political suicide.
Not since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in 1973 have more Americans identified themselves as pro-life. And what is Cuomo doing? He’s going the other way.
Last year, a Gallup poll found that a majority of Americans (52%) want abortion legal under certain circumstances; 25% want it legal in all cases; and 20% want it illegal in all cases. Cuomo is laying anchor with the 25%.
All the survey data in the last decade show that Americans want abortion to be legal but limited: they want it limited to exceptional cases (e.g., they oppose abortions for the sake of convenience), and they want it limited to the early stages of pregnancy. There is absolutely no demand for late abortions—the evidence is just the opposite—yet this is exactly what Cuomo champions.
Cuomo may not pay a big price in New York for his extremism, but once he ventures outside the Empire State he will find out—the way his father Mario did—just how out of touch he is with public sentiment on this life and death issue.
