Tag Archives: Governor

New York governor calls for amending state constitution for abortion rights

Andrew Cuomo Governor of New York discusses abortion rights

By David Ingram

NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Monday he would seek to ensure that women have access to late-term abortions in the state even if conservatives on the U.S. Supreme Court remove federal legal guarantees in place since the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling.

Cuomo, a Democrat who is considered a potential candidate for his party’s 2020 presidential nomination, proposed an amendment to the New York Constitution that he said would preserve the status quo regardless of future Supreme Court rulings.

President Donald Trump, the Republican who took office on Jan. 20, plans to announce a nominee to the Supreme Court on Tuesday. That person, if confirmed, is expected to restore the court’s conservative majority after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016.

The high court ruled four decades ago that the U.S. Constitution protects the right of a woman to have an abortion until the point of viability.

The court defined that as when the fetus “has the capability of meaningful life outside the mother’s womb,” generally at about 24 weeks into pregnancy.

The court also recognized a right to abortion after viability if necessary to protect the woman’s life or health.

If the Supreme Court were to overrule Roe v. Wade, as abortion opponents have long hoped, the procedure would remain legal only where state laws allow it.

In New York, a state law that dates to 1970 legalized abortion up to 24 weeks of pregnancy, and afterward only if the woman’s life is at stake, with no exception for health. The law is not enforced but could be if Roe v. Wade were overruled, abortion advocates say.

The state’s law was “revolutionary back in the day because it legalized abortion before Roe v. Wade, but is now unchanged,” Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in an interview this month. “The state law is not as protective as Roe,” she said.

Dennis Poust, a spokesman for the New York State Catholic Conference, which opposes abortion, predicted that Cuomo’s proposal would fail.

“How many abortions are enough?” he said in a statement, noting New York’s high rate of abortions. “No one can credibly claim that access to abortion is under any threat in New York.”

There were 29.6 abortions per 1,000 women in New York in 2014, compared to 14.6 abortions per 1,000 women nationally, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit group that supports abortion rights.

Cuomo told a Planned Parenthood rally in Albany, New York, on Monday that women’s rights were under attack in Washington.

“As they threaten this nation with a possible Supreme Court nominee who will reverse Roe v. Wade,” Cuomo said, according to a transcript provided by his office. “We’re going to protect Roe v. Wade in the State of New York.”

New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman issued a legal opinion in September making clear that federal court rulings supersede the state’s 1970 law.

For a constitutional amendment to succeed in New York, majorities in the legislature must approve it twice, in successive terms, and voters must approve it.

Republicans control the New York Senate, although it is possible some Republicans might support such an amendment if pressured by constituents who favor abortion rights, said Costas Panagopoulos, a political scientist at New York’s Fordham University.

Opposition to Trump may galvanize liberals into being aggressive, Panagopoulos said.

“People are scared, and that might compel them to action in a way that different circumstances might have them sitting on the sidelines,” he said.

For years, states have planned for a day when the Supreme Court might overrule Roe v. Wade. Some 19 states have laws that could restrict abortion in that event, while seven have laws that would still guarantee the right to an abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

(Reporting by David Ingram; Additional reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Frank McGurty and David Gregorio)

Michigan governor expects no charges over Flint crisis

Michigan Republican Governor Rick Snyder in Lansing, Michigan, U.S.,

(Reuters) – Michigan Governor Rick Snyder said he had “no reason to be concerned” he would be charged in connection with the Flint drinking water crisis that exposed city residents to high levels of lead, the Detroit Free Press reported on Thursday.

Snyder made the comments to the newspaper on Wednesday, the day after two Flint emergency managers appointed by the governor were indicted on felony charges of conspiring to violate safety rules.

“I have no reason to be concerned,” Snyder was quoted as saying, while acknowledging he could not speak on behalf of state Attorney General Bill Schuette. Both Snyder and Schuette are Republicans.

Snyder told the paper much of the $3.5 million in taxes he is using for his criminal defense was being spent to find and prepare records requested by Schuette and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which is also investigating the water scandal.

Schuette has filed 43 criminal charges against 13 current and former state and local officials, including the emergency managers this week.

Snyder’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the interview.

Flint has been at the center of a public health crisis since last year, when tests found high amounts of lead in blood samples taken from children in the poor, predominantly black city of about 100,000 residents.

Critics have called for charges to be brought against the governor, who has been in office since 2011, as well as other high-ranking state officials. Snyder has said he believes he did nothing criminally wrong.

Asked at a news conference on Tuesday whether the investigation would lead to charges against senior state officials, Schuette said no one was excluded from the probe.

Flint’s water contamination was linked to a switch of its source to the Flint River from Lake Huron in April 2014, a change made in an attempt to cut costs, while the city was under state-run emergency management.

(Reporting by Laila Kearney; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Lisa Von Ahn)

Oklahoma Governor: The Ten Commandments Stay

Oklahoma governor Mary Fallin is standing up to her state’s Supreme Court and refusing to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments the court said violated their state Constitution.

The governor noted that Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt has asked the Oklahoma Supreme Court to reconsider the 7-2 decision which supported a challenge by the ACLU of Oklahoma.

The justices said the monument violated Article II, Section 5 of the state constitution:  “No public money or property shall ever be appropriated, applied, donated, or used, directly or indirectly, for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, or system of religion, or for the use, benefit, or support of any priest, preacher, minister, or other religious teacher or dignitary, or sectarian institution as such.”

Legislators are pushing to allow a vote of the citizens to remove that passage from the state constitution.

“Oklahoma is a state where we respect the rule of law, and we will not ignore the state courts or their decisions,” Fallin said. “However, we are also a state with three co-equal branches of government.”

“Legislators and supporters of the monument intended it as a tribute to the importance of the Ten Commandments in our history and our system of laws,” Fallin added in a statement. “Celebrating the historical importance of religions and religious values is not a new idea. Our nation is steeped in references to God and the rights He bestows on all men and women.”

“None of these represent state endorsement of or support for any religion. They are celebrations or visual representations of our culture and events of historical importance,” she added.

Attorney General Pruitt noted that the monument is almost identical to one in Texas that the Supreme Court ruled constitutional.  The monument was erected by private donations, not with state funds.

“We Know God’s Law Can’t Be Undone By Man’s Law”

Texas Governor Greg Abbott made bold declarations about the Lord in an address to the 11th annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast.

Abbott, 57, who became paralyzed after a tree fell on his back in 1984, said he is one of many proofs that God answers prayers.

“Let me just start by making a very simple point. My very being here today is proof that prayers do work,” Abbott told those in attendance at the Marriott Marquis hotel.

“Looking back, I can tell that if you have seen all that I have seen, if you have gone through all that I have gone through, you would never again question the Lord,” Abbott continued. “You would never fear the valley of the shadow of death because you knew that you could palpably feel God’s presence with you and you would pray with gratefulness with the connection established with God that comes through prayer.”

Abbott quoted Pope Francis saying that prayer opens the door for God to do something miraculous in our lives and the lives of those around us.

“Have you all ever noticed how prayers increase in times of great need?” Abbott asked. “In America today, we are in a time of great need and there is an urgent need to pray now, more than ever, especially the need to pray for our religious liberties. I have heard it said that ‘America did not create religious liberty but religious liberty created America.’ That religious liberty is being tested by some who want to silence the faithful and purge God from the public square.”

Abbott mentioned several court victories where the rights of Christians were upheld.

“We see these assaults on faith continue to expand across the entire country,” Abbott said. “We see this in the never-ending battle to defend the unborn and we see this with the legal assault on marriage defined by God, but we know that God’s law cannot be undone by man’s law.”

Abbott mentioned Proverbs 29:2 and said that the world needs righteous leaders in place.  He called on Christians to pray for righteous leaders.

Arkansas Governor Refuses To Sign Religious Freedom Restoration Act

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson has refused to sign the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

The governor said that he wants the bill to mirror the federal Religious Freedom Restoration act so that the state is known “as a state that does not discriminate but understands tolerance.”

“The issue has become divisive because our nation remains split on how to balance the diversity of our culture with the traditions and firmly held religious convictions,” Hutchinson said. “It has divided families, and there is clearly a generational gap on this issue.”

Governor Hutchinson is the latest to back away from a bill to protect religious freedom after anti-faith activists in Indiana launched an attack on the state’s governor for signing a religious freedom law in his state.  North Carolina’s governor is also backing away from a bill to protect religious freedom saying the law “makes no sense.”

Fourteen states are considering similar legislation this year.