In a hard-hitting open letter to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Albany Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger minces no words in condemning the controversial Reproductive Health Act (RHA) which amounts to one of the most extreme pro-abortion laws in the nation.

In the letter, which appeared in the Evangelist, the official publication of the Diocese of Albany, Bishop Scharfenberger made it quite clear that he isn’t fooled by the typical “reproductive rights” rhetoric surrounding this bill and calls it what it is – a death knell for the innocent unborn and a tragedy for the women it purports to be serving.

“Contrary to what its proponents say, the RHA goes far beyond Roe vs. Wade in its aggressive extremism. Granting non-doctors permission to perform abortions does nothing to advance the security and health of women. Condoning coerced or involuntary abortions by repealing criminal sanctions even in cases where a perpetrator seeks to make his partner ‘un-pregnant’ through an act of physical violence does not represent any kind of progress in the choice, safety or health of women. Removing protection for an infant accidentally born alive during an abortion is abject cruelty, something most people of conscience would deem inhumane for even a dog or cat. Finally, allowing late-term abortions is nothing less than a license to kill a pre-born child at will.”

Pro-abortion lawmakers in the state have been trying to pass this radical bill into law for more than a decade but the advent of the newly elected Democratic congress will now allow it to pass.

According to The Buffalo News, Governor Cuomo recently announced that in addition to passing the RHA, which codifies the Roe v. Wade abortion decision into law in the event the Supreme Court overturns Roe, he also wants to place the same radical abortion language into the state’s constitution. In this way, he is hoping to protect these “rights” in the event that a pro-life majority wins back the legislature and repeals it.

“I want to pass this year a constitutional amendment that writes into the constitution a provision protecting a woman’s right to control her own reproductive health,’’ Cuomo said at Barnard College in Manhattan.

However, to do this, it would require two separately elected sessions of the Legislature to approve the amendment before a state-wide referendum could be held.

“If first passage by the Assembly and Senate occurred this year, the earliest voters would consider an abortion amendment would be the fall of 2021,” the Buffalo News reports.

In addition to denouncing the bill, Bishop Scharfenberger also took the Governor to task for claiming in his recent State of the State address that Catholics should “stand with Pope Francis" as if the Pope would approve of such a bill.

“ . . . [Y]our advocacy of extreme abortion legislation is completely contrary to the teachings of our pope and our Church. Once truth is separated from fiction and people come to realize the impact of the bill, they will be shocked to their core. By that time, however, it may be too late to save the countless lives that will be lost or spare countless women lifelong regret,” the bishop wrote.

“It is very difficult to understand how you can align yourself with Pope Francis and so vehemently advocate such profoundly destructive legislation. I find myself wondering how it can be viewed as ‘progress’ to have gone from a society working to make abortion “rare” to one that urges women to ‘shout your abortion’ as some advocates of this bill boldly announce.”

He implores the governor not to bequeath to our children a culture of death, but to build a more humane society for the lives of all of our fellow citizens.

“Mr. Cuomo,” he concludes, “do not build this Death Star.”

Click here to read the Bishop’s letter in its entirety.

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