Just in time for Pride Month, Democrats are erasing mothers and fathers from state law. Senate Bill S9316 passed both chambers of the New York State Legislature this week and is on Governor Kathy Hochul’s desk. She has 10 days to sign or veto.
If she signs it, “mother” and “father” disappear from New York’s family court, domestic relations, and education law. They will be eplaced with “gestating parent” and “non-gestating parent.”
Paternity cases will become “parentage” proceedings.
A father trying to establish his rights becomes “an alleged parent” in official state records.
Here is what that looks like in the actual text of the law:
§ 514. Liability [of father to mother] FOR EXPENSES OF PREGNANCY, CONFINEMENT AND RECOVERY. The [father] COURT MAY DETERMINE WHICH PARENT is liable for the reasonable expenses of the [mother’s] GESTATING PARENT’S confinement and recovery…
Source: NY Senate Bill S9316, Section 514
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Luis Sepulveda of the Bronx, said it was needed “to be consistent with current statute and case law.” One Democratic lawmaker privately told the New York Post the bill was “unnecessary.”
When asked Wednesday whether she would sign it, Gov. Hochul said: “Well, I’m not familiar with what was introduced. I’ll take a look at it. This has been my practice for five years.”
Hochul calls herself New York’s “first mom governor.”
Sen. Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick (R-Nassau), who voted no, said: “At a time when New Yorkers are being crushed by utility bills, rising costs, and public safety concerns, Albany Democrats have decided one of their final priorities in the last days of session should be replacing mothers and fathers in state law. That is not what families are asking for.”
If you are reading this from outside New York, do not look away. This legislation is expected to spark similar bills in other states.
Albany today. Your state tomorrow.
The family is not a political construct. It is the oldest human institution on earth. Mother and father are not slurs but salves.
Words matter, and these are two of the most important words for our children.
Hochul’s office: 518-474-8390.
Tell her you are a mother. Tell her you are a father. Tell her those words belong in the law.
Read the bill yourself: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/S9316
I have not looked at the bill, I am just going by the article. Gestating means CURRENTLY carrying within the uterus from conception to delivery. Thus it cannot define or replace the word mother because the state of motherhood persists way after one has carried. I cannot refer to myself as a gestating parent if my child is 10 years old. And what is the proposed term for "Father"? Sperminator?
I’m just imaging the ads the GOP will run about this if it passes. Why do Dems keep shooting themselves in the foot with this ridiculousness??? Did they not learn from the Kamala “they/them” ad? I cannot with these people anymore.