A4714 repeals the section of state penal law relating to the crime of adultery.
The Senate passed A4714 on April 3, 2024, by a vote of 57 to 4. We have assigned pluses to the nays because adultery destroys marriages and families. Legalization of adultery, as well as “no fault divorce,” permits offenders to commit serious acts of injury against their spouses and children with impunity—thereby aiding and abetting covenant breakers while denying victims due process of law. Innocent parties are left with no right to their day in court. It also mistakenly assumes that the bonds of marriage and family, along with morality itself, are to be determined exclusively, even frivolously, by the government. Yet, neither the Bill of Rights nor the 14th Amendment render marriage vows as meaningless. On the contrary, marriage, being coeval with mankind, is ordained by God, not the state. The most sacred of all human institutions, marriage is a lifelong commitment between one man and one woman, whose one-flesh union serves as the foundation of the family. God-honoring marriages are essential to securing the blessings of liberty and self-government for our children, whereas the fallout from widespread unpunished acts of adultery has been devastating. New York should seek to protect families rather than tear them apart.
