You should know that on January 22, 2019, New York State became the abortion capital of the United States. On that day, the New York State Senate and Assembly, along with Governor Andrew Cuomo, passed the most barbaric abortion expansion law this country has ever seen. Moreover, once he signed the bill into law, Cuomo called for a statewide celebration.
You should know that the abortion expansion law will permit abortion right up until the day before the child is due to be born. Babies who survive these late-term abortions will no longer be provided any medical treatment.
His law will repeal protections against illegal abortions, such as criminal acts of violence against mothers and their pre-born children, or self-proclaimed abortion providers. His law will continue to plague Black and Hispanic communities, calling upon expectant women from our communities to sacrifice the lives of their children so that the multimillion dollar abortion industry can continue to grow. Our Black and Hispanic children will continue to be seen as burdens instead of the treasures they truly are.
I served in the New York State Senate for sixteen years and have spent much of the past twelve years working as hard as possible to prevent what they initially called the Reproductive Health Act (RHA) from passing in the Senate. You should know that when I first wrote a column about the RHA in 2008, I was lambasted by my former Democratic colleagues in the Senate, who told me that I was misinformed and that what I wrote was untrue. Oh, how wrong they were!
They told me that the bill they wanted to shove through was good for women, even though we all know it will result in dangerous health and safety risks to New York's women. I fought them, arguing that it cannot be good for any 13-year-old girl to have the right to an abortion performed by an under-qualified medical practitioner without her parents’ knowledge. I fought with my colleagues for twelve years, I wrote articles, I attended meetings, and I spoke on the Senate floor. I participated in peaceful interfaith prayer vigils.
In fact, the last time the late-term abortion rights bill came to the floor when I was in the Senate (it was then called the Women’s Equality Act) I spoke at length. The only two Democrats who voted against the bill were Senator Simcha Felder, a devout Jew who told me that he fears the Lord, and myself, a Pentecostal minister.
Since I left the Senate in 2017 to serve in the New York City Council, I have continued to raise my voice—not only as an elected official, but also in my capacity as one of New York’s religious leaders—to protect all human life. On January 17, just days before this bill became law, I held a press conference on the steps of City Hall with a multitude of Evangelical Christians to denounce this inhumane piece of legislation.
I must congratulate Democrat Senator Joseph Addabbo for joining Simcha Felder and the twenty-two Republican senators who voted “nay.” According to an article in The Wall Street Journal on January 27 by Jimmy Vielkind, Senator Addabbo stated: “I felt someone had to stick up for that child that could live outside the womb.” Good for him and for all of us who will continue to fight the good fight and protect babies and their mothers!
This will involve a great deal of spiritual warfare, and you should all know that the members of my congregation where I preside as pastor of the Christian Community Neighborhood Church, along with the 150 Evangelical ministers who are members of the New York Hispanic Clergy Organization where I preside as president, will not despair.
We pray that our courts will overturn Governor Cuomo’s abortion expansion law and fight for equal rights for every child in his or her mother’s womb. We pray to have that same right to life as children in neonatal intensive care units throughout New York where medical professionals fight to save precious lives.
While radical late-term abortion bills are rearing their ugly heads in statehouses all over the country, we will continue to pray. We will pray for Virginia Democrats who squirm to defend infanticide legislation allowing abortion as a mother is giving birth. Many people of faith, many atheists, and many Democrats believe that dismembering an unborn child is a human rights violation. It’s time to raise our voices and make this our priority when we go to the polls.
Ladies and gentlemen, we may be ostracized and even persecuted for protecting innocent children and their mothers, and for insisting that their lives should be nourished instead of destroyed. As they say, if you don’t take the heat now, you will have to take it later. The Holy Quran, Holy Torah, and the Holy Bible all defend the sanctity of life. I am New York City Councilman Reverend Rubén Díaz, and this is what you should know.
Reverend Rubén Díaz served in the New York State Senate for sixteen years and is now a New York City Councilman.
Become a fan of First Things on Facebook, subscribe to First Things via RSS, and follow First Things on Twitter.
You have a decision to make: double or nothing.
For this week only, a generous supporter has offered to fully match all new and increased donations to First Things up to $60,000.
In other words, your gift of $50 unlocks $100 for First Things, your gift of $100 unlocks $200, and so on, up to a total of $120,000. But if you don’t give, nothing.
So what will it be, dear reader: double, or nothing?
Make your year-end gift go twice as far for First Things by giving now.
