Great News: NYS Minor Consent Bill is Now Dead (Thank G-d!)

With the corresponding Senate Bill S8352 withdrawn by its sponsor, A6761 can’t be brought up for a vote. Here are the details of the miracle!

BS”D

Readers will likely recall that I wrote about the serious dangers of Bill A6761 a few times recently. We now have a most wonderful update!

Curtis Cost wrote a substack about this amazing G-d given victory over evil. Here is a bit of his description:

THE MINOR CONSENT BILL IS DEFEATED!

Curtis:

On Tuesday, May 7th, our New York group went to Albany, NY, the State’s capitol, to rally against the diabolical Minor Consent Bill. This bill would have allowed children of any age to consent to any medical procedure, including drugs and surgeries, without their parent’s knowledge or consent! In less than a week since we were in Albany, the Minor Consent Bill has been pulled!

The rally lasted about two hours and then we broke up into smaller groups and met with our legislators. I was part of the group who met with a representative of New York State Senator Gustavo Rivera’s office. Gustavo Rivera is the Chairman of the Senate Health Committee. He is the one who decides which health related bills go to the full legislature for a vote. This makes him one of the most powerful individuals in the New York State Legislature, especially for our issues. We have been trying to secure an appointment with him for over a year, but after the rally we did in front of his office and the more recent rally in front of Assemblymember Karines Reyes’s office, he agreed to meet with us. The room was packed with standing room only.

Mary Holland, the CEO of Children’s Health Defense (CHD), explained why this bill violated multiple laws and she made it clear that if the Minor Consent Bill passed, Children’s Health Defense would sue! Almost identical legislation was passed in Washington DC. I was part of the massive effort to stop that legislation from being passed. We had thousands of people reaching out to the Mayor of Washington, D.C. who had the power to veto it, but she didn’t, and it passed anyway. Fortunately, CHD’s attorneys went into action and were able to not only show that the legislation was illegal, but they were able to effectively stop it! Gustavo Rivera’s representative therefore knew that Mary Holland’s words had to be taken seriously!

John Gilmore asked the representative what problem was this bill trying to solve? The representative did not have an answer. John also asked if there were any constituents who requested that this type of bill be created, and the answer was no.

I asked him about the language in the bill talking about infants making medical decisions. I asked him if this was some type of joke, or if it was written by some drunk interns. His face seemed like it was turning red from embarrassment. He busily wrote down some notes and said he would look into it.

(BW: This is one of my favorite parts of the story!) 👆🏼

Curtis then describes how he told of the religious leaders who signed against the bill. That certainly seemed to make Gustavo Rivera’s representative very nervous.

Curtis:

I explained that these letters were being circulated and that we would be sending his office a copy with their signatures. His expression flashed deep concern as he hastily wrote down additional notes.

All of the people in the room were hitting him from different angles about why this bill was so bad. These included Dr. James Lyons-Weiler, Michael Kane, Shannon Joy, and others. I don’t think this gentleman was prepared for the caliber of people who were in that room.

Amazingly, after our meeting, we actually ran into Senator Gustavo Rivera in the hallway. He was willing to speak with us as he walked to the elevator and even inside the elevator. Everyone was cordial. He ultimately did agree to review the bill with his representative. We are very grateful to Senator Gustavo Rivera for taking the time to meet with us and listen to our grievances.

Well, less than a week later, the Minor Consent Bill was pulled from the New York State Senate! Senator Rachel May, who is the sponsor of Senate Bill S8352, suddenly decided to pull her bill just four business days after we left Albany! Without a Senate sponsor The Minor Consent Bill cannot be brought up for a vote, making it effectively defeated for this year!

When we left Albany, we all felt that we had done a great job between the speakers and meeting with the representatives. On the other hand, none of us could imagine how quickly action would be taken. None of us thought that the bill would be defeated just four business days later! Instead, we were all prepared for a long dragged-out battle over the next several weeks. We were all amazed and relieved by our victory.

BW: Thank G-d!

Here is the link to Curtis Cost’s write-up on substack which I excerpted above:

We Won! The Minor Consent Bill Is Defeated!

BW: Thank you to everyone who prayed for the defeat of the bill and/or called or wrote to legislators!