Politics Bay Ridge

Demonstrators rally against Reproductive Health Act

Golden among protesters outside Gounardes ceremony

January 29, 2019 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Protesters gathered across the street from Fort Hamilton High School to criticize New York state’s new Reproductive Health Act while state Sen. Andrew Gounardes, one of the bill’s co-sponsors, was inside the school celebrating his oath of office. Eagle photo by Arthur De Gaeta
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A group of anti-abortion demonstrators held a protest rally against the state’s new Reproductive Health Act across the street from a ceremony in which one of the bill’s co-sponsors was taking his oath of office on Sunday.

Former Republican state Sen. Marty Golden was among the dozens of protesters standing on Shore Road and 83rd Street across from Fort Hamilton High School, where Democratic state Sen. Andrew Gounardes was celebrating an oath of office ceremony in front of hundreds of people in the auditorium.

Gounardes defeated long-time incumbent Golden in November.

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Gounardes was a co-sponsor of the RHA, a bill signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Jan. 22. The new law codifies for New Yorkers the protections contained in the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision allowing abortion.

The RHA moves abortion from the state’s criminal law to its public health law; incorporates the protections of Roe v. Wade into New York state law and ensures that New Yorkers can access care throughout a pregnancy when their health or life is endangered or if the pregnancy is not viable; and clarifies that trained health care providers acting within their scope of practice can provide abortion care.

Leaders of Planned Parenthood of New York said the RHA will ensure that New Yorkers will have access to early and safe abortions.

But abortion opponents charged that the new law would allow abortions in the ninth month of pregnancy.

The Sunday protest branded itself as “Pro-Women, Pro-Child, Pro-Life” on a flier posted across social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

“More than 50 people stood against New York’s abortion expansion law & the removal of assaulting a pregnant woman from the State’s penal code this afternoon on Shore Road, across the street from the inauguration of one of the bills co-sponsors @agounardes,” John Quaglione, one of the protesters and Golden’s former chief-of-staff, wrote on Twitter.

In addition to Gounardes, the protesters said they were targeting Cuomo and lawmakers who voted for the RHA, including Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assemblymember Mathylde Frontus, a Democrat who represents Coney Island and parts of Dyker Heights and Bay Ridge.

As the protest was taking place, Stewart-Cousins and Frontus were inside Fort Hamilton High School attending the ceremony for Gounardes.

In his speech, Gounardes made no mention of the demonstration. He thanked Golden for his years of service to the community.


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