Media contact: Michele Sterlace, Executive Director of FCLNY, (716) 864 1454, [email protected]
A federal class action lawsuit filed on January 12, 2021, by victims of domestic and intimate partner violence, along with others, claims New York’s Reproductive Health Act (RHA) puts “women in danger,” and violates the fundamental rights of women and children, including viable children in utero, or fetuses capable of surviving outside the womb.
In an unprecedented class action involving a New York State abortion statute, the lawsuit alleges the RHA unconstitutionally escalates the risk of violence and interferes with U.S. Constitutional rights for three distinct categories of people, pregnant women, viable unborn children, and infants born alive during attempted abortions. Plaintiffs are represented by a team of women attorneys, who also serve as special counsel to the Women’s Alliance Against Violence, an initiative created to challenge State laws that destructively impact women and children, including children in utero.
Feminists Choosing Life of New York (FCLNY), according to its mission, is a state-wide human rights organization that embraces and promotes the principles of non-violence and non-discrimination. “We applaud the efforts of the Women’s Alliance Against Violence,” says FCLNY’s board president, Carol Crossed. “Not only do we condemn group violence, including violent protests, we oppose publicly sanctioned lethal violence, like capital punishment, abortion and war.” For instance the group has spoken out against the execution of Lisa Montgomery.
