The Remarks Of Speaker Sheldon Silver

2013 Family Planning Advocates Day Of Action

Well Of The Legislative Office Building, Albany, NY
Monday, January 14, 2013


photo
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (at podium) addressed the 2013 Family Planning Advocates Day of Action in Albany today and welcomed its members to the "Year of the Woman" in New York State. Silver commended the organization for its commitment to providing family planning and reproductive health services to those who would not otherwise be able to afford them. The Speaker also pledged the Assembly's continued and long-standing support in the state budget to fund family planning services and to keep New York State a state where women control their own personal and private reproductive health decisions. (From Left: Assemblymember Ellen Jaffee and Health Committee Chair Richard Gottfried)
Thank you, Tracey (CEO Brooks) for your kind words and thank you, members and friends of the Family Planning Advocates of New York State, for your warm welcome.

Normally, I would begin by saying, Happy New Year, but it might be more appropriate to say, welcome to the "Year of the Woman" in New York State.

As I do every year on your "Day of Action," let me offer my personal gratitude to you for once again taking the time to come to Albany and to speak for all of the women, children and young parents of this state who are unable to be here themselves to advocate for family planning services.

As always, I am delighted to be here with your President and CEO, my friend, Tracey Brooks. Many of you know, because I say it over and over, that Tracey's leadership skills were honed during her time as an employee of the Assembly. So, I and my Assembly Majority colleagues know better than most what a bright, talented, charismatic and dedicated leader and champion of social justice she is.

Tracey, we are delighted to be working with you and with your exceptional team again this year.

It's good to see our compatriots from Planned Parenthood and so many of the state's family planning agencies.

As I told you during last year's Day of Action, I and my Assembly Majority colleagues have a profound respect for you and for the many doctors, nurses and health-care professionals who provide family planning and reproductive health services to those who would not otherwise be able to afford them.

This is why you see my Assembly Majority colleagues and I attending your Day of Action every year, and this is why we advocate for family planning support in every budget.

The war that is being waged against reproductive freedom in states throughout our nation.

What we heard from the Far Right during last year's political campaigns, particularly the raving of former Missouri Congressman Todd Akin has only steeled our resolve to shield women from the scourge of domestic violence;

Has only steeled our resolve to protect and defend a woman's right to choose;

Has only steeled our resolve to erase gender inequality in our state.

In his State of the State Address, Governor Cuomo expressed that resolve about as clearly and passionately as any leader could. I cannot tell you how encouraged we were by his remarks.

The Assembly Majority, we who were the driving force behind the Women's Health and Wellness Act;

We who for years and years, passed the Unintended Pregnancy Prevention Act, The Healthy Teens Act, pay equity legislation, and anti-domestic-violence legislation;

We now have the partner we have needed to pursue the enactment of the Reproductive Health Act.

We now have the partner we have needed to better protect women from abuse and to knock down the barriers to fairness and equity that women have endured for far too long.

However this legislative session unfolds, be assured of this:

For as long as I am Speaker of the Assembly, for as long as the People's House is guided by influential leaders such as Assembly Members Denny Farrell, Joe Morelle, Dick Gottfried, Deborah Glick, Michelle Titus and Ellen Jaffee, to name but a few, New York will continue to be a state where women control their own personal and private reproductive health decisions.

New York will continue to be a state that believes that our young people need and deserve medically accurate, age-appropriate sex education.

New York will continue to be a state that empowers women.

In closing, let me thank you again for being here.

Please remember that my door and the doors of my Assembly Majority colleagues are always open to you.

For now, please make the most of this, your Day of Action and know that you always have strong friends and supporters in the Assembly Majority.