KINGSTON — Two full pages of the Daily Freeman, the daily newspaper of Kingston, the county seat of Ulster County, featured the signatures of more than 1,400 individuals in support of the pro-life declaration of the Ulster Deanery Respect Life Committee (UDRLC) on Sunday, April 14, in mournful commemoration of April 11, 1970, the date when abortion was legalized in New York by Gov. Nelson Rockefeller. “The amount represents a gain of nine percent over the previous year’s ad in the Daily Freeman,” announced Father Arthur F. Rojas, Moderator-Spiritual Director of the UDRLC.

For decades, the UDRLC has made a practice of taking its “Signature Ad” annually on the pages of the Daily Freeman as a statement of protest and determination in the wake of the Roe v. Wade decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that established abortion on demand as a constitutional right across the United States, usually in the Sunday issue nearest to the January 22 anniversary of that ruling. “However, with the Dobbs v. Jackson decision of the U.S. Supreme Court overruling Roe v. Wade in 2022 and returning the abortion issue to the states,” stated Father Rojas, “our committee decided to raise awareness of the anniversary of April 11, 1970 as the start of the tragedy of abortion on demand in New York. In light of the “Equality Amendment” on the ballot in November seeking to enshrine abortion on demand in our state constitution, our Signature Ad this year is especially relevant and timely.”

The Ulster Deanery Respect Life Committee aims to coordinate the spiritual and practical pro-life activities of Catholics of the 14 parishes in Ulster County and allied people of good will such as the Bruderhof Communities.

The UDRLC intends to cooperate with New Yorkers of all faiths concerned over preborn human life and parental rights to urge Ulsterites and New Yorkers to vote no on the so-called “Equality Amendment” this November.