New York Public Servants Offend Pro-Lifers and Abuse Their Roles

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, recently made remarks which caused great offense. The governor, lumping together those who are pro-life, against a ban on assault weapons and against gay marriage, claimed that these people have no place in his state, because that’s not who New Yorkers are:

… You’re seeing that play out in New York. … The Republican Party candidates are running against the SAFE Act — it was voted for by moderate Republicans who run the Senate! Their problem is not me and the Democrats; their problem is themselves. Who are they? Are they these extreme conservatives who are right-to-life, pro-assault-weapon, anti-gay? Is that who they are? Because if that’s who they are and they’re the extreme conservatives, they have no place in the state of New York, because that’s not who New Yorkers are.

The governor has the privilege of holding the highest office in the state because he was democratically elected as a public servant. While he should know better than to make such comments, the issue is far more problematic. Whether Cuomo likes it or not, he is governor to all New Yorkers, not just to those “moderate Republicans,” but the “extreme conservatives” as well.

Living in a state with abortion laws such as New York, I have had conflicted feelings about my home state, and have felt unwelcome even before the governor made his comments. To the governor, I am an “extreme conservative.” I am pro-life, against a ban on assault weapons and am against gay marriage. Except according to the governor, I’m “anti-gay.” And after such remarks, how else am I supposed to feel but unwelcome and unaccepted?

While the governor did apologize —sort of— he sounded insincere and blamed the media. Thus, while Cuomo may have desperately back peddled to show he does support freedom of speech and opinion in his state, he also created another problem for himself by offending the press.

The governor still did not change his tone about how he really feels about pro-lifers. The Weekly Standard reports:

Now his office is backtracking and insisting that the governor said “‘it is fine’ to be anti-gun control, and anti-choice – as he respects both positions.”

Pro-lifers in New York should perhaps not expect much respect from their governor. But it would be helpful if Cuomo was honest about how he felt about those who disagree. If he truly respects the position, as his office claims he does, then he wouldn’t call those against the destruction of innocent human life “anti-choice.”

Governor Cuomo not only places blame on the media, but on conservatives and Republicans:

You have a schism within the Republican Party. … They’re searching to define their soul, that’s what’s going on. Is the Republican party in this state a moderate party or is it an extreme conservative party? That’s what they’re trying to figure out. It’s a mirror of what’s going on in Washington. The gridlock in Washington is less about Democrats and Republicans. It’s more about extreme Republicans versus moderate Republicans.

The governor provides an example of politicians then who do not acknowledge their own failings so much as they point fingers at the other side. How can the governor expect to achieve any common ground then with Republicans in his Assembly and Senate?

Perhaps one of the biggest concerns is not just the largely inexcusable comments, even if the governor’s apology had been more acceptable. With the clever title of her piece, Kathryn Jean Lopez makes a telling point for the National Review Online with “Andrew Cuomo Puts Up a ‘Catholics Need Not Reside’ Sign in New York.”

The governor’s comments certainly do not only apply to Catholics, but the irony should not be lost on how Cuomo considers himself a Catholic. He claims to belong to a denomination which is clear in its objections to abortion and gay marriage. After the governor’s latest move, Timothy Cardinal Dolan remarked that such comments were “most unfortunate at best.” One can hope that the Church will take a stricter position in reminding the governor to fall back in line with the teachings of Catholicism. Those who hold such positions must choose either their faith or their politics.

Another Democrat politician, Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York City, is backing up the governor. From Breitbart:

“I stand by that 100 percent,” de Blasio told reporters at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.

“I agree with Governor Cuomo’s remarks. I interpret his remarks to say that an extremist attitude that continues the reality of violence in our communities or an extremist attitude that denies the rights of women does not represent the views of New York State,” he added.

It is not shocking that one who is in favor of abortion, like de Blasio, would see pro-lifers as those who have “an extremist attitude that denies the rights of women…” However, de Blasio also makes a bold claim:

But exercising that free speech could put you on the wrong side of New York “values,” de Blasio maintained. “I think he’s saying that the attitude of those who want to continue the status quo on guns or want to challenge and deny the right to choose does not reflect the values of New Yorkers. He was absolutely right to say what he said,” de Blasio stated.

In describing “the attitude of those who… want to challenge and deny the right to choose does not reflect the values of New Yorkers[,]” the mayor needs to know that findings show an overwhelming percentage of New Yorkers are not so much in favor of late-term abortion.

Mayor de Blasio is in charge of a city, which at forty percent contains the third highest population of Catholics in the country. Unfortunately, his city also has abortion rates which are triple the national rate. It hardly seems like the city needs to have a mayor who is dedicated to “the right to choose,” but rather a return to the beliefs of which at least forty percent of residents should hold.

Pro-life Catholics like myself are a tough bunch used to working with a law that is against us as Roe turns 41. And there is especially not an easy time to be had in New York, which was ranked the 47^th most pro-life state by Americans United for Life. Still, this does not mean that Cuomo and de Blasio have license to treat pro-lifers as second class citizens, especially when the unborn children they protect already lack equal protection under the law.