New York state has some of the most liberal abortion laws in the country. The unborn are considered not human by the state. In fact, New York State is so liberal that they’ve refused to follow the model of dozens of other states who’ve passed homicide laws that recognize unborn victims.
However, I was perusing the New York State Department of Health’s website and came across a series of charts for minimum income levels to apply for state funded Medicaid insurance. One of the charts had this little phrase that surprised me a bit. It read:
“Pregnant women count as two.”
What?!
New York’s Department of Health actually wrote that “pregnant women count as two.”
So the NY State Dept. of Health is acknowledging the humanity of the person in the womb. Sometimes. If you want government funding, the baby counts as a human. But if the baby is killed (even against the mother’s will,) it doesn’t. Got it?
I’m not saying this will bring about any change in the law but what it does do is highlight the illogic of the pro-aborts. You can’t logically have the state say sometimes the unborn count as a person and sometimes they don’t. To do so would be…inhuman.
January 20, 2010 at 6:48 am
Matt, there is a similar head-scratcher in property law, where a class of persons (e.g. "my children") will include those who may not be born for another nine months. It amazes me the amount of deference our property and estate laws pay to the unborn, while criminal codes and constitutional jurisprudence have so little regard for these most vulnerable members of society.
January 20, 2010 at 7:57 am
Some more good news; Priests for Life is working to put an initiative on the California ballot similar to the one that didn't make it in Nevada, which would effectively classify all unborn as human beings. THIS is the way to go, rather than waiting for some miracle from the Federal Surpreme court which is not going to happen.
January 20, 2010 at 2:20 pm
Where's Craig?
He's usually here to illuminate us on the apparent disconnect on such logical points as these.
January 20, 2010 at 3:04 pm
Excellent points!
January 20, 2010 at 3:54 pm
I don't care WHAT the NY Dept. of Health says, I wouldn't try the "pregnant women count as two" line on the cop who pulls me over for driving in the HOV lane without anyone else in the car…
January 20, 2010 at 4:03 pm
"Where's Craig?"
Probably somewhere clutching a signed Olbermann headshot and sobbing after what happened in MA yesterday…
January 20, 2010 at 6:01 pm
Katie – yesterday was a Political victory, not a moral one. I really can't understand any Catholic getting too excited over it.
January 20, 2010 at 6:07 pm
I doubt they have any reason for this other than trying to get as many pregnant women and small children on their rolls as possible. If a woman is on state-funded Medicaid she is that much more likely to submit to all their interventions during her pregnancy, labor, delivery, and the post-partum period. This could conveniently include sterilization and contraceptive measures. When I was young I was on state insurance for two of my pregnancies, and I can vouch for the fact that when you are poor, they are that much more insistent that you "need" their brand of "family planning". IOW, it isn't that the health department believes in the humanity of the unborn, it's just a convenient way to push their anti-life agenda on as many women and children as possible.
January 20, 2010 at 7:44 pm
On all the governmental assistance here in Massachusetts, if you're pregnant you count yourself as '2', but the government subsidized health insurance 'MassHealth' also covers abortion. So twisted isn't it!
January 20, 2010 at 8:32 pm
Thanks Matthew. I added this one to the top of my list.
http://heyitsjustablogman.blogspot.com/2010/01/self-condemning.html
January 20, 2010 at 11:27 pm
And let's not even think about what they would say if a sonogram showed twins!