After Legalizing Late-Term Abortion, NY Leftists Want To Ban Cat Declawing
I am definitively a dog person, but I understand there are people who fall into the feline camp, and even I would like to see them afforded certain legal protections. Pet abuse is a sick thing, after all. But, I think we can all agree on one thing: There should probably be more legal protections for unborn human children than for cats. Right?
Apparently, not everyone in New York state agrees.
“New York would be the first state in the U.S. to ban the declawing of cats under legislation approved by lawmakers at the request of cat owners, animal welfare advocates and many veterinarians who call the procedure cruel and needless,” The Associated Press reported Tuesday.
“The bill, which would subject veterinarians to $1,000 fines for performing the operation, now heads to the desk of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, whose representatives said he will review the bill before deciding if he will sign it.”
If he signs it, it certainly won’t be the most high-profile piece of legislation Cuomo’s signed this year. That would be the Reproductive Health Act, the piece of legislation which legalized late-term abortion.
As the AP reported at the time, “the measure replaces a 1970 state abortion law that was passed three years before [Roe v. Wade] legalized abortion nationwide. It codifies many abortion rights laid out in Roe and other court rulings, including a provision permitting late-term abortions when a woman’s health is endangered.
“The previous law, which was in conflict with Roe and other subsequent abortion rulings, only permitted abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy if a woman’s life was at risk. The new law also authorizes physician assistants to perform some abortions and moves the section of state law dealing with abortion from the penal code to health statutes.”
Of course, the problem isn’t just that it legalizes late-term abortion but the fact that “the health of the mother” is a potentially slippery slope. There’s also the fact that this makes abortions less safe by allowing them to be performed by physician assistants.
“In the face of a federal government intent on rolling back Roe v. Wade and women’s reproductive rights, I promised that we would pass this critical legislation within the first 30 days of the new session — and we got it done,” Gov. Cuomo said at the bill’s signing.
“Today we are taking a giant step forward in the hard-fought battle to ensure a woman’s right to make her own decisions about her own personal health, including the ability to access an abortion. With the signing of this bill, we are sending a clear message that whatever happens in Washington, women in New York will always have the fundamental right to control their own body.”
And the fundamental right to control another human body that’s inside of them, but never mind that. This is basically saying that the unborn are worthless and that even the slightest restriction on abortion is too much.
But meanwhile, don’t declaw your cat.
“Cats of New York: Show me your claws” Democratic state Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, who had pushed for the bill for years, said upon its passage. She called the process “barbaric and inhumane.” The bill would only allow the procedure in cases of infection, injury or other medical complications.
“New York prides itself on being first,” Rosenthal said, according to NBC News. “This will have a domino effect.”
For what it’s worth, the bill was opposed by the New York State Veterinary Medical Society, which said that it could still be useful as a last resort in other cases, such as where a cat cannot stop clawing at furniture or where the owner has a weakened immune system and a cat scratch could leave them with severe medical issues.
“The end result is a barbaric procedure that results in the mutilation of the animal,” Rosenthal argued. “Frankly, if you’re worried about your furniture, then you shouldn’t be getting a cat.”
You’d think the same logic would apply in the case of a mother and her innocent unborn child. Simply replace the word “cat” with “baby” and the word “furniture” with “body,” and suddenly the argument is one against mutilating a child simply for a mother’s convenience or “health.”
Of course, no matter how logical the argument is, the left is increasingly hellbent on proving that the exact same logic couldn’t possibly apply in the case of abortion.
However, the AP pointed out the procedure could be extremely painful for the cat.
“Unlike human nails, a cat’s claws are attached to bone, so declawing a feline requires a veterinarian to slice through tendon and nerves to remove the last segment of bone in a cat’s toes,” the AP reported. “Supporters of the ban cite estimates that a quarter or more of all domestic cats in the U.S. have had the procedure.”
Isn’t it curious how few articles about the Reproductive Health Act went into even this desultory level of detail regarding the process of late-term abortion?
Again, for what it’s worth, Assemblywoman Rosenthal was one of the sponsors of the Reproductive Health Act when it was introduced in the state Assembly.
As Rosenthal argues, declawing your cat for no particularly good reason is a pretty awful thing to do. But, apparently, when it comes to aborting a late-term pregnancy, that same level of concern for what is and is not “humane” does not seem to apply.
“Declawing a cat is not like getting a mani/pedi, it’s a brutal surgical procedure that involves removing the first bone of the cat’s toe and part of the tendons and muscles,” a statement from Rosenthal read, according to CNN.
“Now that New York is poised to become the first state in the nation to ban cat declawing, the days when this procedure is cavalierly offered for the convenience of the owners to protect couches and curtain are numbered.”
The irony involving gruesome procedures being “cavalierly offered for the convenience of” individuals somehow escaped her.
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