On Tuesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.) signed a radical new abortion bill with great fanfare on the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, with the lawyer who argued that case by his side. On Wednesday, one Christian owner of a used bookstore in Syracuse, N.Y. protested the law by closing his shop, so as to avoid paying sales taxes to New York.
“CLOSED TODAY: Today is a day of mourning in New York State,” read a sign in front of the shop Jon Speed: The Book Scout, a used bookstore in Syracuse. “We will not collect sales tax today for a tyrannical government that murders babies. We will resume regular business tomorrow, collecting sales tax under duress.”
Jon Speed, the shop’s owner, concluded his message with the statement, “End Abortion Now.”
The sign went viral on Facebook after Marcus Pittman, executive producer and show runner for Apologia Radio and TV, shared it.
Make this go VIRAL! Jon Speed: The Book Scout, a local used book store in Syracuse, NY run by Jon Speed shut down…
Posted by Marcus Pittman on Wednesday, January 23, 2019
“I’m pro-life mainly because I’m a Christian and because I understand that murder is wrong,” bookstore owner Jon Speed told Faithwire, “What I understand from prenatal science is that clearly — and even from what the Bible says — that the baby in the womb is a baby, it’s a human life.”
“I really felt like I needed to do something,” Speed said. “I obviously can’t stop paying sales tax to the state of New York — I can’t do that altogether, although I would like to, but I can’t. So I thought, ‘Well, I’ll put a sign up on the front window of the store and say we’re closed [Wednesday] and express our thoughts on it, just so we can make a statement.'”
The new law repeals New York’s prior restrictions on abortion and even removes abortion from the criminal code. It declares abortion a fundamental right, meaning doctors and nurses who object to performing abortions may not be able to opt out. Medical practitioners can carry out an abortion up until birth, if they think the pregnancy poses a threat to the life or health of the mother.
Tragically, the new law also strikes down the fetal homicide provisions of New York’s criminal code, meaning that if a pregnant woman is physically abused and her unborn baby dies as a result, New York will not prosecute that case as a homicide. The law explicitly clarifies that an unborn baby who dies in such a case does not count as a “person.”
In addition to celebrating with the Roe v. Wade lawyer, Gov. Cuomo had the spire of the One World Trade Center lit pink to celebrate what he considered a key victory for women’s rights.
New York has the highest abortion rate in the nation, and between 2012 and 2014, more unborn babies were aborted than born alive in the state.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans marched in Washington, D.C. last Friday in the March for Life, protesting the Roe v. Wade decision. The theme of the march was “pro-life, pro-science.”
Follow the author of this article on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member