New York Governor and Roman Catholic Andrew Cuomo's apostasy on abortion now includes a greater measure of anti-liberty.  Cuomo is tearing a page from President Obama's failed attempt (thus far) to legally force religiously-affiliated hospitals and institutions to permit abortions at their facilities. 

The Cuomo-backed legislation - innocuously termed the "Reproductive Health Act" - would disregard strongly held faith and moral objections to abortion to compel religiously-affiliated health care and counseling facilities to join the culture of abortion.

From a National Review Online editorial:

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo seeks to impose a radical new abortion regime on the state, one that goes far beyond the euphemistic byword "choice." The bill would in fact limit many choices, for instance the choice of Catholic hospitals and other institutions with moral objections to decline to allow abortions to be performed in their facilities. It would limit the choices of organizations that counsel pregnant women if their counseling were held to be insufficiently enthusiastic about abortion. It would limit the choices of organizations that seek to help women in crisis without involving themselves in the politics of abortion. 

New York's Cardinal Timothy Dolan is speaking out against the legislation.  Dolan, who is considered something of a dark horse to succeed Pope Benedict XVI, is using the couched language of a man who is required to play politics in the highest circles.  We can all appreciate Cardinal Dolan's challenges, but when does calculated language and restrained appeals give way to Harry Truman plain talk?

Per the Catholic News Agency:

While Cardinal Dolan and Gov. Cuomo "obviously disagree on the question of the legality of abortion," Cardinal Dolan said that certainly they must both be "in equally strong agreement that the abortion rate in New York is tragically high."

Perhaps Cardinal Dolan spoke with deliberate irony.  How could Cuomo possibly believe that the "abortion rate in New York is tragically high" when he backs legislation that seeks its expansion by riding roughshod over the consciences of men and women who are pro-life?  The governor is not only boldly offending the dictates of his church, but aggressively acting to oppose its tenets.  Surely, the governor's apostasy merits a tougher challenge from Cardinal Dolan and other New York bishops?    

Moreover, in broader consequence, Cuomo is claiming that the state has a right to mandate any citizen (a health care provider or counselor, among others, in this regard) to act against his deeply held beliefs and conscience.  For many pro-lifers, abortion is murder; for all, it's killing the innocent.  It should raise all sorts of alarms among liberty's friends when a president and governor seek to deny free men and women the right to refrain from supporting, or participating in, an act that is grossly morally and religiously repugnant.  If the president and Governor Cuomo can succeed in forcing participation in abortion services on principled objectors, who and what are next?  Freedom seems to be not just a generation away from being extinguished, but now a heartbeat away (a baby's heartbeat). 

Further, the principle of moral and religious objection should be extended to every American, and not just those serving in religiously-affiliated institutions and organizations.  For instance, no business owner who is pro-life should be forced to offer employees' insurance that has an abortion provision. 

Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI championed a "New Evangelization" as the mission for the Roman Catholic Church in the 21^st Century.  This is laudable.  But there needs to be a Roman Catholic Church Militant as well - and Christian Churches Militant, and among traditional and conservative Jews, call it a Judaism Militant.  Threats to faith and freedom are very real and very much among us now. Andrew Cuomo, who claims a faith, acts against faith; in the name of freedom, Cuomo acts to deprive citizens the most fundamental right to faith and conscience.  Cuomo defends a woman's right to choose, but does little if nothing to defend the rights of the unborn, who have no choice.

We've entered perilous times; many have yet to grasp that hard reality.  Faith and freedom are being assaulted by those who aver no intentions to do so; who, in fact, argue that they are defenders of both.  Cuomo is either self-deluded or deceitful.  Neither is good; the latter is awful and frightening.