New York Archives - American Atheists

End Child Marriage in New York

American Atheists — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 18:11:47 +0000

The New York Assembly and Senate Judiciary Committees will be considering S3086/A3891, life-saving bills that would prevent children from being forced into marriage by prohibiting marriage of individuals under the age of 18. This legislation is important because, too often, marriages occur in religious sects where very young girls are forced to marry men much older than them. Child marriage remains a widespread problem in the United States. Between 2000 and 2015, more than 207,500 children as young as age 12 have been forced to marry, including nearly 4,000 in New York. Current New York law sets a minimum marriage age of 18 but has a loophole allowing children 17 years old to marry with custodial parent or guardian consent and judicial approval. The U.S. State Department has called marriage before age 18 a “human rights abuse.” Take action today! Tell the members of the Senate and Assembly Judiciary Committees to protect young people in New York from this devastating practice! Children forced into marriage because of their parents’ beliefs have few options. As minors, they face legal dead ends, and organizations and shelters have significant barriers to helping them. As a result, these children remain with abusive families and husbands, and they are often removed from school, raped, and live in poverty. The only way to give children the ability to say “No” to marriage is to eliminate marriage under age 18 and close loopholes to existing laws. Postponing marriage until both parties are 18 gives young people the legal right to refuse to marry and to take legal action against domestic abusers. We are so close to getting this passed—please help protect children in New York by asking the Assembly and Senate Judiciary Committee members to support S3086/A3891!

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American Atheists Praises NY Legislation to Ensure Hospital Transparency

American Atheists — Fri, 05 Mar 2021 17:29:19 +0000

Albany, NY–Today, the civil rights organization American Atheists praised New York Assemblywoman Nily Rozic and Senator Michelle Hinchey for announcing legislation that will improve healthcare and save lives. This important bill ensures that New Yorkers have access to vital information about whether the hospital in their area provides the care they need prior to admission. The legislation will direct the NY Department of Health to collect a list of policy-based exclusions from each general hospital and to publish a list of the hospitals that have such exclusions, and the specific policy-based exclusions for each, on its website. American Atheists joins New York Civil Liberties Union, the National Institute of Reproductive Health (NIRH), Planned Parenthood Empire State Acts, and Schenectady Coalition for Healthcare Access in supporting this legislation. By partnering with organizations and lawmakers, American Atheists has worked to introduce similar legislation in other states. “The current pandemic has laid bare how crucial hospital care is and how little we know about what care each hospital provides,” said Assemblywoman Rozic. “No patient should be denied the care they need simply because they had no way to know that their local hospital excluded certain procedures. This legislation will go a long way to ensure New Yorkers have access to the data they deserve in order to make informed decisions about their health care needs.” Senator Michelle Hinchey said, “It’s well past time to strengthen information transparency in our healthcare system. All New Yorkers have the right to know what medical services are available at their local hospital. This is especially important now as we are seeing a wave of hospital consolidations and, therefore, the loss of services in communities across the state. Our legislation will ensure that New Yorkers have access to the information they need to make the most informed health decisions possible for themselves and their families. At the same time, this bill will allow us to identify key service gaps that are leaving entire regions of our state without access to proper types of care. This is a critical step towards greater health equity for all New Yorkers.” “When New Yorkers are in the middle of a medical emergency, they need to know that their hospital will treat them, not turn them away for discriminatory reasons. Thankfully, Assemblymember Rozic and Senator Hinchey have introduced important legislation to fix this life-threatening problem,” said Alison Gill, Vice President for Legal and Policy at American Atheists. “No one should find out that a hospital will deny them care until it’s too late.” Read additional quotes here. Since 2003, over 40 community hospitals in New York have closed. Currently, large health care systems now control more than 70 percent of acute hospital beds, and hospital mergers in New York continue apace. Unfortunately, these large hospital systems sometimes remove categories of care from local hospitals, leaving patients in regions of the state without access to particular types of care, including some types of emergency care. Too often, patients do not have the ability to determine whether the hospital, or hospitals, in their area provides the care they seek, because information about how hospitals’ restrictions […]

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Christian Nationalist Bible Class Bill Fails to Gain Foothold in New York

American Atheists — Tue, 14 Jul 2020 21:20:48 +0000

Albany, NY—Today, the national religious equality watchdog, American Atheists, praised the New York Assembly Education Committee for voting 23-6 against Bible class legislation (A6315). This controversial bill would have encouraged public schools to offer elective Bible courses and required the Commissioner of Education to develop guidelines for such classes. This victory comes after American Atheists submitted testimony, warning members of the Assembly Education Committee that multiple studies have found that Bible classes are often taught in an unconstitutional way that promotes Christianity and exposes public schools to lawsuits. “New York did the right thing. These Bible courses often serve as a veneer to engage in proselytizing in public schools,” said Alison Gill, Vice President for Legal and Policy at American Atheists. “Rather than protecting religious freedom in schools, this Christian nationalist bill would undermine the religious freedom of anyone who is not Christian by potentially subjecting students to religious coercion.” New York’s Bible class bill is similar to model legislation provided by the secretive Christian Nationalist campaign, Project Blitz, which American Atheists and partners in the BlitzWatch Coalition oppose. Project Blitz dates back to 2015. In 2017, the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation (CPCF), one of the groups behind Project Blitz, released a state-level legislative guide promoting nearly two dozen harmful bills, including those allowing discrimination in adoption and foster care, as well as denial of health services. “Project Blitz attempts to pass these Bible class bills and other seemingly innocuous bills in order to insert religious messaging into schools and then build momentum for far worse, discriminatory legislation,” said Gill. “New York taxpayer dollars should fund public education, not be wasted on Project Blitz’s out-of-state efforts to indoctrinate students,” she added.

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