While some state legislatures live with the legacy of "trans-vaginal ultrasounds," Governor Cuomo is pushing lawmakers in Albany to pass an expansion of reproductive rights. The Reproductive Health Act would allow women to receive abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy when their health or the health of the fetus is at risk. Perhaps more importantly, the bill would allow New York state's abortion law to stand alone from a possible Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. A senior official in the administration explained to the Times why the law needs to be passed: "The Supreme Court could change."
The Reproductive Health Act is part of a wider push for women's equality by Governor Cuomo that includes equal pay legislation, ending discriminatory hiring practices, and strengthening order-of-protection laws that shield victims of domestic violence. The governor made the proposed legislation a major part of his State of the State speech last month.
The RHA would also regulate abortion through the state's public health law, instead of the penal code, and explicitly state that licensed health care practitioners, not just physicians, are allowed to perform abortions. A bill similar to the one being drawn up by the governor is being proposed by a Democratic state senator.
Elizabeth Nash, the states issues manager of a research group that supports abortion rights, explained that Cuomo's actions are unusual in a time when most statehouses are trying to tamp down on women's rights. “Pretty much all of the energy, all of the momentum, has been to restrict abortion, which makes what could potentially happen in New York so interesting,” she told the paper.
Naturally, religious groups and ironically-named anti-freedom organizations oppose the legislation. “I am hard pressed to think of a piece of legislation that is less needed or more harmful than this one,” Cardinal Timothy Dolan wrote in a letter to the governor. “It’s as though, in their minds, our state motto, ‘Excelsior’ (‘Ever Upward’), applies to the abortion rate.”
The head of the New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms (yep) added, “If you ask anyone on the street, ‘Is there enough abortion in New York?’ no one in their right mind would say we need more abortion."
