On November 6, 2024, NY Gov. Kathy Hochul, in conjunction with the NY Attorney General’s office, announced the launch of the New Empire State Freedom Initiative.

During the announcement, Gov. Hochul confirmed that NY Ballot Proposition One was designed to enshrine abortion as a constitutional right in NY. CompassCare CEO, Rev. Jim Harden, calls the amendment “experimental” and “fundamentally different” than any of the other 10 ballot initiatives that were voted on in November.

The results of the November 5^th election reveal seven (7) of the ten (10) proposed abortion ballot initiatives passed, all by an approximate 60/40 margin. Rev. Jim Harden encourages Republican leaders to see the big picture, “Kamala Harris ran as the Abortion Czar. The voice of the people strongly opposed her—a clear moral mandate. Do not let the passage of these seven abortion ballot initiatives convince you to back away from abortion. Beyond the language on the ballots potentially confusing even pro-life voters to vote ‘YES’ on a pro-abortion proposal, these states are the usual suspects when it comes to pro-abortion policy. If Trump’s victory reveals anything, it is that Americans do not want wholesale, deregulated abortion.” Rev. Harden’s claim is validated by the election Exit Polls which cite abortion and the economy/state of Democracy as primary issues for the voters.

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While nine of the initiatives sought to curb their respective state’s ability to regulate abortion, NY’s initiative—Ballot Proposition One—took a fundamentally different tact, restricting the rights of the citizens. Rev. Harden says, “By fabricating new subclasses in the Equal Rights Amendment to the NY Constitution, Proposal One is the atom bomb in the pro-abortion political arsenal. When the amendment goes into effect in January, any activity that can be construed as discriminating based on abortion-related issues or denying a woman an abortion may become punishable as a violation of a woman’s civil right.”

On November 6^th, Gov. Kathy Hochul confirmed that NY Proposal One was designed to enshrine abortion as a constitutional right in NY, her office’s press release stating, “…New York has already taken steps to protect access to safe and legal abortions, including passage yesterday of Proposition 1.” At the time of the press conference, Gov. Hochul referenced the goal of her new reproductive rights task force stating, “Our team will do whatever we have to do to identify an possible threats to these rights.”

New York has already deregulated abortion, protecting abortionists from criminal liability (New York’s Shield Law), stockpiling abortion drugs, promoting abortion tourism, and is actively funding the expansion of abortion businesses in NY. Rev. Harden asks, “NY has deregulated abortion and supported the abortion industry to the maximum degree. The only actions left are to regulate Christian, pro-life activity. In other words, expect more attacks on pro-life individuals, pregnancy centers, and churches.”

One week after the still unsolved firebombing of CompassCare’s Buffalo medical office, NY Gov. Hochul signed a bill to investigate pro-life pregnancy centers. NY Attorney General Letitia James illegally leveraged her office to censor pro-life pregnancy centers, and recently has engaged in litigation to penalize pro-life pregnancy centers for providing safe and effective Abortion Pill Reversal treatments. Rev. Harden says, “In addition to these attacks on pro-life Christians, Hochul and AG James turned a blind eye to pro-abortion domestic violent extremists firebombing and issuing death threats against pro-life Christians and CompassCare.”

“We have no intention of slowing down our efforts to provide an ethical alternative for women who think abortion is their only choice,” Rev. Harden said in response to Hochul’s New Empire State Freedom Initiative. “No matter how much pro-abortion bigotry is enshrined in state constitutions, pro-life Christians will keep swinging for the fences, hitting whatever pro-abortion politicians throw our way.”