ALBANY, New York, March 27, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – As states move to order suspensions of non-essential medical procedures in order to conserve resources and contain the spread of the coronavirus, the top cop of New York state has lent her voice to the chorus demanding that the abortion industry get an exemption from the sacrifices that healthcare providers are making all across the country.
U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams and the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have advised healthcare facilities to reschedule non-urgent appointments and elective procedures, both to limit the spread of the coronavirus and to free up time and resources to focus on patients afflicted by COVID-19 (the illness caused by the coronavirus).
Compliance with this guidance has been mixed, leading numerous states to mandate that facilities temporarily halt “non-essential” procedures. Among them, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton made it clear that the suspension applies to “any type of abortion that is not medically necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother,” for which the abortion lobby is suing the state.
New York’s Democrat Attorney General, Letitia James, placed the Empire State firmly on the other end of that spectrum Thursday, The Hill reported.
“To be clear, the coronavirus is not an excuse for federal, state, or local governments to curtail women’s reproductive freedoms or limit their choices,” James declared. “Any woman who wants to go into a doctor’s office or into a clinic today and get an abortion should continue to be able to do so.”
“And for those who do not feel comfortable leaving their homes as we battle COVID-19, we are fighting to maintain women’s access to abortion and the abortion pill so that their reproductive choices are not limited,” she continued, vowing she would “do everything in my power to stop this attack on a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion.”
James’ stance is unsurprising in light of New York’s record on abortion. Last year, the state infamously enacted a law codifying a “right” to third-trimester abortions, erasing recognition of preborn babies as potential homicide victims, removing abortion from the penal code entirely, and allowing non-doctors to commit abortions.
Pro-life medical professionals have assailed the notion that the abortion industry should get a pass from the same standards currently being applied to every legitimate field of medicine.
The American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) says that while “elective abortion is neither ‘essential’ nor ‘urgent,’” it “does consume critical resources such as masks, gloves, and other personal protective equipment, and unnecessarily exposes patients and physicians to pathogens.”
“Elective abortion, both surgical and drug induced, also generates more patients to be seen in already overburdened emergency rooms,” AAPLOG continued. “Most abortion providers instruct women to go to an emergency room if they have any concerning symptoms after the abortion. Approximately five percent of women who undergo medication abortions will require evaluation in an emergency room, most commonly for hemorrhage. Surgical abortions can also result in hemorrhage. Emergency room personnel – who are already struggling to meet the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic – will be further strained to provide care to these women.”