To the Editor:
Democrats must stop playing politics with women’s rights.
Words have meaning. As an Assemblyman and a lawyer, I am very conscious of this fact and I take great care to read proposed legislation with a critical eye. I do my best to always vote the way a reasonable person would, keeping in mind my life experiences as well as my wife, son and daughter. When it comes to women’s rights, I am a strong supporter and want equality for both of my children and all others in this State. So in light of the misleading and negative campaign my opponent and the democrats are waging, I believe the public needs to decide how they feel about the so-called “Women’s Equality Act” after they have read the language for themselves.
The controversy over the Bill is in its 10th subsection where it expands “pregnancy termination” beyond 24 weeks as “determined by a licensed physician,” which, under the NYS Education Law, is anyone with an M.D. or D.O. degree. That person does not need to be a gynecologist. It also repeals 9 sections of the NY State Penal Law relating to homicide and further mandates: “No prosecution or proceeding shall be brought or maintained under the penal law or otherwise for acts that are authorized or permitted pursuant to this section.” That last section is where I had deep concern. The fact that “no person” would be prosecuted for criminal acts as a result of an abortion, regardless of their medical training, intent, or the consequences to the woman, was unacceptable. As a former prosecutor who handled homicide cases, I totally disagree with that provision. If you’d like to read it for yourself it is Assembly Bill A8070, Subsection J, at page 32.
With the above in mind, I failed to see the benefit of providing an exemption from criminal prosecutions to those performing abortions even if they injure or kill the mother. I don’t believe that is good law. It protects the practitioner, not the woman.
The Rules of the Assembly require us to vote either “yes” or “no” on the entire bill. “Yes” to all 10 points or “no” to all 10 points. I voted “no.” The bill eventually passed by a vote of 88 to 43. Of the other 42 Assembly Members who joined me in a “no” vote, 8 were democrats and 2 were women. The bill was defeated in the Senate.
It’s important to note that the rest of the “Women’s Equality Act” had 9 good sections providing equality to women. My conference separated the first 9 points into separate bills so they could become law by themselves. They were as follows:
- Equal Pay for Equal Work;
- Ending Workplace Sexual Harassment;
- Protecting Women from Human Trafficking;
- Strengthening Orders of Protection for Abused Women;
- Making Orders of Protection Available through Electronic Filing;
- Ending Discrimination against Domestic Violence Victims;
- Banning Pregnancy Discrimination;
- Banning Workplace Discrimination due to Family Status; and
- Allowing Attorney’s Fees in Successful Sex Discrimination Cases.
All 9 passed the Senate, and I co-sponsored all 9 in the Assembly. Simple stuff—get them to the Assembly floor, they pass, and the Governor signs them. It should be a piece of cake, right? Common sense would then allow us to fight over the abortion section and the 10th point, after we get all of these good bills passed.
Well, that isn’t how the NY City Democrat Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver does things. Thanks to Mr. Silver, none of these bills ever made it to the Assembly Floor for a vote. None. Instead, in an election year, they chose to hold all 9 bills so people like my opponent could claim that I have some ignorant, “anti-women’s agenda” and that I voted against women’s equal pay, discrimination, etc., all of which were points 1 through 9 of the “10-point Women’s Equality Act” as stated above.
Now that I’ve explained the process, you can understand how we weren’t able to vote “yes” to their 10-point bill unless we voted “yes” to partial birth abortion and immunity for all individuals performing these procedures. Hence, the 43 votes against it. It’s deceptive, but the State Democratic Party (and my opponent) are vigorously claiming this around the State with the incumbents who voted “no” on their “10-point Women’s Equality Act.”
So when I hear my opponent, a man who has previously run unsuccessfully for elected office at least 3 times now, say that we “shouldn’t be politicizing women’s equality,” I am offended that he believes the public is so naive. He is the one who is politicizing women’s equality. He is the one who is politicizing abortion. He and the Assembly Speaker are financing these commercials, “Robo”-Calls and Facebook campaigns against me. Sadly, they are trying to mislead the public with sound bites so they can steal an election. Please take the time to get all the facts before you vote. The silliest part is that they have spent well over $100,000.00 on his distortion campaign, yet I bet few of you even know his name.
Succinctly stated, as an Assemblyman and father of a daughter and son, I want to make sure that I do all I can to create a future that will be fair for both my children and yours. I am proud to say that I co-sponsored and fought for these 9 women’s rights in Albany during the 2014 Legislative Session. In fact, I held a press conference to urge Sheldon Silver to get my Human Trafficking Victim’s Protection Bill to a vote on the Assembly floor. He ignored me.
There is no question that more should be done to ensure equal pay, equal work environment rights and all the other rights mentioned above for women. I hope that my daughter will thrive in a work setting that pays every employee fairly, regardless of gender. I am very proud to have co-sponsored the Assembly bills mentioned above during this past Session, and will continue the fight to make them law. I hope that the need for women’s equality legislation soon becomes an issue of the past. I am not alone when I say this, so let’s work to create bills that make good sense before they get signed into law—not pass them first to find out what they say later.
Sincerely,
Assemblyman Anthony H. Palumbo
2nd Assembly District
