Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on an editorial in yesterday’s New York Times:
The June 17 editorial in the New York Times on the sexual abuse of minors is aptly titled, “The Children Deserve Justice.” Too bad the editorial board doesn’t really believe it. That’s a strong charge, deserving of proof. Here it is.
The editorial gives half-baked kudos to New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo for pressing a new measure that would require college coaches to report child sex abuse (the Times says he could have done more). It also praises New York State Assemblywoman Margaret Markey for proposing a bill that would allow an accuser 10 years after turning 18 to press charges (instead of the current five-year period); it would also allow a one-year window for alleged victims to file suit in civil claims in cases where they were previously barred from doing so.
The editorial is right to say that Gov. Cuomo could be doing more: he could support mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse to apply to all professionals, including counselors. It’s not the bishops who are holding back this needed change: it’s Family Planning Advocates, the lobbying arm of Planned Parenthood, and the New York Civil Liberties Union. Why the resistance? Because Planned Parenthood counselors learn of cases of statutory rape all the time, and they don’t want to be blanketed with a mandatory reporting law. But don’t look for the Times to press for this change. So much for the justice that children deserve.
And don’t expect the Times to tell the truth about the Markey bill: her proposal doesn’t extend to the public schools (under state law, public school victims have only 90 days to press charges, and the Markey bill does nothing to change it). Once again, children will be deprived of the justice they deserve.
Protecting Planned Parenthood and public school employees is obviously more important to the New York Times than the justice children deserve.
