(dramatic music)
- [Announcer] This is CBN Newswatch.
- And thanks for joiningus for CBN Newswatch.
I'm Heather Sells.
A sad and evil day; that ishow one probably-life advocate
described the signing ofthe Reproductive Health Act
in New York, which legalizeslate term abortion.
Governor Andrew Cuomo signedthe bill into law yesterday
on the 46th anniversary of Roe V. Wade.
Our Mark Martin joins us nowin the CBN Newsroom with more.
Mark.
- Heather, the ReproductiveHealth Act of New York
removes restrictionson late term abortions
allowing unborn babies to beaborted on the day of birth.
There were actually cheersand a standing ovation
after the Governor signed the bill.
Take a look.
- Congratulations (noisedrowns out speech)
- Yeah!(audience applauding)
- The law erases NewYork's previous limitations
on abortion which restricted
the fatal procedure past 24 weeks.
The Reproductive Health Act states,
"Every individual who becomes pregnant
"has the fundamental right to choose
"to carry the pregnancy to term,
"to give birth to a childor to have an abortion."
But New York's Governordoesn't wanna stop there.
Cuomo said PresidentDonald Trump and quote,
"these extremists are tryingto reverse Roe V. Wade
"making it necessary togo beyond the new law."
- And that's why we had to pass this law,
to protect our state.
And that's why I believe wehave to go even a step further
and do a ConstitutionalAmendment so no Governor,
no legislator, no politicalswing can ever jeopardize
a woman's right to controlher own body in this state.
New York, setting thebar on women's equality.
- The law also removesabortion from the definition
of homicide in New York'scriminal code altogether.
Pro-life activists arehorrified by the legislation.
The founder and President ofLife Action, Lila Rose tweeted,
"New York Senate cheerstoday for legalization
"of killing a baby old enough to be born,
"poisoning a six-monthold to death in the womb
"and delivering her in pieces.
"This is the legacy of #Roe.
"It's time to end this barbarism."
An outspoken Christianand New Orleans Saints
tight end, Ben Watson tweeted,
"It is a sad and evil day when the murder
"of our most innocent andvulnerable is celebrated
"with such overwhelming exuberance.
"We should be supportingand encouraging the building
"of families which arefundamental to any society.
"By not doing so, we inviteconsequences untold."
Meanwhile, in the State ofIowa, a district court judge
ruled on the anniversaryof Roe V Wade that Iowa's
pro-life fetal heartbeatlaw was unconstitutional
and may not be enforced.
That law would ban abortions
once a baby's heartbeat is detected,
which can happen as earlyas six weeks into gestation.
And Heather, the judge wrote that,
"Defenders of the law didnot present a compelling
"state interest that justifiesbanning most abortions
"after a baby's heart starts beating."
The Iowa law was passedlast year and supposed
to take effect July 1st.
Back to you.
- All right, Mark, thank you so much.
Well, Abby Johnson is aformer Planned Parenthood
Clinic Director turned pro-life advocate
and she joins us now withmore on these developments.
Abby, as we just reported,the State of New York
now allows abortions all theway up until the day of birth.
How do you think this will change
the abortion landscape in that state?
- Well, New York is already known as
our nation's abortion capital,
so I don't think that's going to change,
certainly, with this new law.
We do see other states that have
these laws in place as well,Colorado, New Hampshire.
I think there's about 10 states total
that allow abortion upuntil the date of birth.
I think that what willhappen is that a lot
of these late term abortionproviders are going
to be now seeking practicesin New York so that they
can perform late termabortions without any penalty.
- It's really sad.
Let me ask you too, this newsfrom Ohio, I'm sorry Iowa,
where a judge says thata law that bans abortion
after the heartbeat isdetected is unconstitutional.
How do you see that playing outand how significant is that?
- Well, the hope is thatthere will be a state
that passes heartbeatlegislation or even better yet,
personhood legislation.
Before, we did not have thevotes in the Supreme Court
and I'm not honestly sure thatwe have the votes right now
with Kavanaugh, but I thinkthat it is the right time
to take a personhood or heartbeatbill to the Supreme Court.
And so that sort of the hopeis that a bill will be passed
in a State that the pro-choice groups,
Planned Parenthood andNARAL Nath, one of them,
or all three of them, willthen challenge the state law
and will take it to the Supreme Court.
And hopefully the SupremeCourt would hear that case
and would then overturn Roe V. Wade
and would allow states tomake the decisions whether
or not they want abortionin their own state.
- Well, it's fascinating tosee all this playing out.
Wanna ask you too about PlannedParenthood's latest report,
which shows that its abortionnumbers were way up last year.
What do you think is driving this?
- It's profit.
So it is, abortion is their lowest cost,
highest revenue product that they sell.
And we even see now, we sawit with Cecile Richards,
their past Presidentof Planned Parenthood,
who said providing cancerscreenings such as pap smears
are just as vital as performing abortions
at Planned Parenthood Health Centers.
Now we see their newPresident, Dr. Leana Wen,
saying that providing abortions is
the main focus at Planned Parenthood now.
And we certainly see that
in their current reportcoming out, of course,
the weekend before theRoe V. Wade anniversary.
We see that all of theirservices have decreased.
Their contraceptive services,their women's health services,
everything has decreasedexcept for abortion.
That's the only service that we see
on the rise at Planned Parenthood.
- Abby, we just have about 30 seconds,
but why do you think thePlanned Parenthood Director
is now saying, look,abortion is our core mission.
In the past, their tonewas a little different.
- Yeah, you know, I thinkthat we have seen this trend
over the past few years thatthey are going to continue
to push abortion because itdoes make them the most money.
I think it also goes, sort of,
against what we're sayingis that there's lots
of other places that womencan get women's healthcare,
reproductive health care.
You don't need PlannedParenthood and they're saying,
you do need PlannedParenthood for abortion.
And so, they're gonnacontinue to push that.
- Abby Johnson, thanks for your time.
- Thank you so much.
- President Trump has voicedhis support for a group
of pro-life Catholic teensattacked after a video
went viral on social media.
Their school, CovingtonCatholic High in Kentucky,
reopened today, amid police protection,
after violent threats were made
against students and the school.
A video appeared to show the young men,
many of them wearing MakeAmerica Great Again hats
surrounding a Native Americangroup at the Lincoln Memorial
but a longer video shows itwas actually the students
who were being harassed.
Nick Sandmann told NBC he wastrying to calm things down.
- As far as standing there,I had every right to do so.
I don't, my position is that I was
not disrespectful to Mr. Philips.
I respect him.
I'd like to talk to him.
In hind sight, I wishwe could've walked away
and avoided the whole thing.
- Since then, a numberof tweets have threatened
the boys with death.
President Trump tweeted, "NickSandmann and the students
"of Covington have becomesymbols of fake news
"and how evil it can be."
Musician Lady Gaga is attackingVice President, Mike Pence.
Gaga, who identifies as a Christian,
told fans at a concert that Pence
is the worst representationof what Christianity actually
is because his wife worksat a Christian school
that follows Biblicalteaching on sexuality.
You can go to CBNNews.comfor the full story
and an opinion piece with the headline,
The Age of Anti-Christian Rage:
How Lady Gaga Style LeftistsAre Trying To Recreate
the Christian Faith In Their Own Image.
