It should have been blood red, like a warning. Crimson, like a siren — or STOP. Instead, the spire of New York’s One World Trade Center was lit up in it’s-a-girl pink, a 408-foot reminder that the law it celebrated will mean fewer daughters, fewer mothers, fewer chances. From miles away on Wednesday night, people could see the tower flashing in the dark sky, announcing the arrival of a new evil in the war against America’s children.

On the streets below, some New Yorkers shuddered. It was one thing for state leaders to carry out their threat against the unborn, and another thing altogether to revel in it — cheering wildly as Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) signed the warrant for the execution of more innocents. In a state where the womb was already the most dangerous place for a child, this law begins a new era. Open season on our own. From now on, nothing stands in the way of a woman taking her baby’s life — days, hours, or even a minute before she’s born. A fully grown, healthy human baby that thousands of struggling couples would give anything to have.

That’s the savagery New York leaders call “progress.” That’s the “achievement” Cuomo turned into a pink beacon, shining “a bright light forward for the rest of the nation to follow.”

Call it health care, call it a reproductive right — call it choice. But whatever you call it, abortion has just massively expanded its target zone in New York State. Under the Reproductive Health Act, late-term abortion is the new normal. And where there’s late-term abortion, there’s almost always infanticide. This law guarantees it, sweeping away a large chunk of the penal codes that protected abortion survivors. Thanks to this Act, Kermit Gosnell, and his bloodstained, cat-infested, third-world excuse for a clinic, would be untouchable. The Resurgent’s Stacey Lennox puts that into its gruesome context. “For those of you who saw the movie [Gosnell], Baby B would not be considered a victim.”

“Person,” as far as this law is concerned, means a human being who has been born and is alive. Not a second before, and maybe — without infant protections — not few seconds after either. Midwives and nurse practitioners can also perform abortions under the law, meaning that this law doesn’t just put unborn lives on the line — but women’s as well. Welcome back to the dark age of unregulated horror houses with rusty equipment and untrained staff who botch abortions and kill mothers. Progress, indeed.

“Let’s do a global game reset,” Charlotte Lozier President Chuck Donovan writes. “The U.S. is one of only seven nations on the planet to allow elective abortion after 20 weeks, or more than halfway through pregnancy. New York — allowing non-physicians to carry out abortions, voiding Born Alive Infant protections, surpassing its previous 24-week limit, compelling all insurance carriers to cover it, and denying protections for unborn victims of third-party violence — is among the most permissive of our 50 states. There is no jurisdiction in the world to its left on abortion. None.”

Where are the feminists? Where are the mobs screaming that black lives matter in a city where more African-American babies are already aborted than born alive? As the Rev. Michel Faulkner of New Horizon Church once said, “My people, the African-American people, did not … endure 300 years of slavery and 100 years of Jim Crow law to face genocide in the 21st century.”

“A woman’s power to decide whether she will give birth or not…” Gloria Steinem argued, “is our most basic democratic right.” Murder is the mark of tyrants — not democracy. And thank God, some New Yorkers are brave enough to recognize that. In Syracuse, far from the big city and its pink glow, Jon Speed didn’t know how to respond to what he’d just seen. So, he did what he could. He closed his used book store and posted this sign in protest: “Today is a day of mourning in New York State. We will not collect sales tax today for a tyrannical government that murders babies. We will resume regular business tomorrow, collecting sales tax under duress. End Abortion Now.”

Asked later why he did it, he said, “I obviously can’t stop paying sales tax to the state of New York — I can’t do that altogether, although I would like to, but I can’t. So I thought, ‘Well, I’ll put a sign up on the front window of the store and say we’re closed [Wednesday] and express our thoughts on it, just so we can make a statement.’”

Hopefully, there will be enough Jon Speeds in New York to rise up and end this nightmare. Sometimes, I think we become so focused on Congress and what’s going on in Washington, D.C. that people forget the importance of being involved locally — on city councils, school boards, and legislatures. The people behind this evil will come again — to your state. If there’s any hope of stopping them, we need to engage now.

Originally published here.

Waiving Goodbye to Anti-Adoption Attacks

The media made a big deal about the problem of family separation at the border (an issue that was largely unreported under Obama but has now been resolved). But no one ever talks about how the Trump administration has worked to bring families together. And the story of Miracle Hill Ministries is just one example of how this White House has fought to do exactly that.

Unlike Barack Obama, President Trump doesn’t think the government should put adoption agencies out of business for their beliefs. South Carolina’s Miracle Hill has placed kids with Christian parents for 30 years — and that was never a problem, until recently. Right before Obama left office, the ministry came under fire for its policy of putting children with Bible-believing couples. Although Congress is working on a more permanent solution, Obama’s regulations meant that Miracle Hill wasn’t eligible to apply for grant money under the Department of Health and Human Services.

“The government should not be in the business of forcing foster care providers to close their doors because of their faith,” argued HHS’s Lynn Johnson. “Religious freedom is a fundamental human right.” Fortunately for Miracle Hill, they have an advocate in South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster (R), who’s been fighting for a waiver for the group since last February. “The licensing and participation of faith-based entities in the state foster care system is a constitutionally-protected practice,” he pointed out. “It is important that religious organizations not be required to sacrifice the tenets of their faith in order to serve the children of South Carolina.”

This week, after 11 months of holding its breath, Miracle Hill got the news it was waiting for: the Trump administration had lifted the licensing requirement — to the cheers of Governor McMaster and pro-family advocates around the country. “By granting this waiver, President Trump and Secretary Azar have shown the entire world that, as Americans, our fundamental right to practice religion, regardless of our faith, will not be in jeopardy under this administration. With young people in need of stable foster homes throughout our state, I am determined to protect each and every one of the Child Placing Agencies that have been called to help us fill those needs.”

Congressman Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), who’s introduced a bill called the Child Welfare Inclusion Act to protect faith-based groups on a national scale, celebrated the president’s decision to put religious freedom first in foster care. But, he points out, “There is still an urgent need to fully protect all faith-based adoption and foster care agencies in every corner of our country from unfair discrimination by states and localities. In Pennsylvania, faith-based agencies are currently being told to change their sincerely-held religious beliefs or shut down.” To hear what he had to say about it, check out our conversation on yesterday’s “Washington Watch.”

Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), the House’s ranking member on Ways & Means, acknowledged that there’s “still work to do,” but promised that he and other conservatives are “committed to fighting for every foster and adoptive child and those parents seeking to grow or start a family.”

Originally published here.

This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Tony Perkins’ Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC Action senior writers.