Abortion
The purpose of this bill is to break down barriers and aid in access to reproductive health care by establishing the Abortion Access Fund. New York State taxpayers will be able to indicate on their personal income tax return whether they wish to contribute to the fund.
Enacted Legislation
Limited Services Pregnancy Center Study Bill (S470 Hoylman/A5499 Glick)
Signed into law on June 13, 2022
This bill authorizes the Commissioner of Health to conduct a study and issue a report examining the unmet health and resource needs facing pregnant women in New York and the impact of limited services pregnancy centers on the ability of women to obtain accurate, non-coercive health care information and timely access to a comprehensive range of reproductive and sexual health care services in alignment with their health care needs and that supports personal decision making.
Reproductive Health Act (S240 Krueger, Stewart-Cousins/A21 Glick)
Passed and signed into law on January 22, 2019
The Reproductive Health Act would update New York’s abortion and contraception laws to recognize a woman’s fundamental right to access safe, legal abortion; ensure a woman’s right to have an abortion if her health is endangered; and treat the regulation of abortion as an issue of public health and medical practice rather than as a potential crime. Passing the Reproductive Health Act would guarantee that women’s reproductive health remains protected in New York, regardless of what happens at the federal level. State legislatures across the country have enacted over 450 bills that would ban or restrict abortion, some of which are a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade. All it takes is one of these challenges to reach the Supreme Court and Roe could be overturned. View Frequently Asked Questions about the Reproductive Health Act (RHA)
The “Boss Bill” (S660 Metzger/A584 Jaffee)
Signed into law on November 8, 2019
Prohibits employers from discriminating against employees or employees’ dependents based on their reproductive health decision making, including but not limited to, the decision to use or access a particular drug, device or medical service without the employee's prior informed, affirmative written consent; prohibits employers from taking retaliatory action and requiring employees to sign a waiver or other document that would deny their rights to make their own reproductive health decisions; provides penalties.
State Facts About Abortion: New York (Guttmacher Institute): This fact sheet provides a brief overview relating to abortion legislation and practices in New York.
2017 Year In Review: Gaining Ground Proactive Reproductive Health and Rights Legislation in the States (NIRH): The National Institute for Reproductive Health’s (NIRH) mission is to help build a society in which everyone has the freedom and ability to control their reproductive and sexual lives. In the current political climate, proactive policy change that advances that mission might seem out of reach—but in reality, state advocates, legislators, and governors are moving forward every day with innovative policies that will improve the daily lives of the residents of their states. The goal of this report is to encourage greater advocacy for such affirmative policies and to help demonstrate that real change is possible, ongoing, and being driven by advocates and lawmakers at the state and local levels.
The Safety and Quality of Abortion Care in the United States (Contributors: Committee on Reproductive Health Services: Assessing the Safety and Quality of Abortion Care in the U.S.; Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice; Board on Health Care Services; Health and Medicine Division; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine): In 2016, six private foundations came together to ask the Health and Medicine Division of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to conduct a comprehensive review of the state of the science on the safety and quality of legal abortion services in the United States. The sponsors—David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Grove Foundation, 7KHJPB Foundation, Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, Tara Health Foundation, and William and Flora Hewlett Foundation—asked that the review focus on the eight research questions listed in Box S-1. The Committee on Reproductive Health Services: Assessing the Safety and Quality of Abortion Care in the U.S. was appointed in December 2016 to conduct the study and prepare this report.
-
1821
"America's first statutory abortion regulation is enacted in Connecticut in order to protect women from abortion inducement through poison administered after the fourth month of pregnancy."
-
1856
"Leading pro-life advocate Dr. Horatio Storer establishes a national drive by the American Medical Association (AMA) to end legal abortion. First trimester abortion at this point (in most states) is legal or a misdemeanor."
-
1860
"Twenty states have laws limiting abortion."
-
1873
"The Comstock Act bans access to information about abortion and birth control."
-
1890
"Abortion is regulated by statutes advocated by the AMA, and abortion is permitted upon conferral of one or more physicians who believe the procedure is necessary to preserve the life of the mother."
-
1961
"Vacuum aspiration-style abortion spreads throughout Europe and is considered safer than traditional methods."
-
1963
"The Society for Human Abortion is established in San Francisco. SHA challenges the law by openly providing information on abortion and contraception."
-
1967
"Abortion is classified a felony in 49 states and Washington D.C. Dr. Leon Belous is convicted for referring a woman to an illegal abortionist -- a case leading to a 1969 California Supreme Court decision in favor of the right to choose abortion."
-
1970
"Alaska, Hawaii, New York, and Washington liberalize abortion laws, making abortion available at the request of a woman and her doctor."
-
1971
"The Comstock Act prohibiting information on abortion is repealed. (State laws banning contraception remain.) Abortion under 'certain' conditions is allowed in 14 states; four states guarantee a woman the choice of pregnancy termination."
-
1973
"Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision strikes down state laws that made abortion illegal."
-
1974
"Federally funded research using fetal tissue is prohibited through the National Science Foundation Authorization Act."
-
1976
"Congress adopts the first Hyde Amendment barring the use of federal Medicaid funds to provide abortions to low-income women."
-
1981
"In Bellotti vs. Baird, Supreme Court rules that pregnant minors can petition court for permission to have an abortion without parental notification."
-
1989
"In Webster vs. Reproductive Health Services, a law in Washington State declaring that 'life begins at conception'; and barring the use of public facilities for abortions is found unconstitutional. It marks the first time the Supreme Court does not explicitly reaffirm Roe vs. Wade."
-
1991
"Rust v. Sullivan upholds the constitutionality of the 1988 'gag rule' which prohibits doctors and counselors at clinics which receive federal funding from providing their patients with information about and referrals for abortion."
-
1992
"Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey reaffirms the 'core' holdings of Roe that women have a right to abortion before fetal viability, but allows states to restrict abortion access so long as these restrictions do not impose an “undue burden” on women seeking abortions."
-
1994
"Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act is passed by Congress with a large majority in response to the murder of Dr. David Gunn. The FACE Act forbids the use of 'force, threat of force or physical obstruction' to prevent someone from providing or receiving reproductive health services. The law also provides for both criminal and civil penalties for those who break the law."
-
1996
"The abortion debate shifts to state bans on 'partial-birth abortions' which generally include late-term abortions performed with the 'dilation and evacuation' method. 104th Congress passes HR 1833, a bill to outlaw such procedures; President Clinton vetoes the bill."
-
2000
"Stenberg v. Carhart (Carhart I) rules that the Nebraska statute banning so-called 'partial-birth abortion' is unconstitutional for two independent reasons: the statute lacks the necessary exception for preserving the health of the woman, and the definition of the targeted procedures is so broad as to prohibit abortions in the second trimester, thereby being an “undue burden” on women. This effectively invalidates 29 of 31 similar statewide bans."
-
2017
Today, states throughout the U.S. continue to introduce legislation and create regulations that chip away at Roe v. Wade and create back-door restrictions to obtaining abortion care. In New York, we have seen tremendous grassroots advocacy efforts to get the Reproductive Health Act passed. The BPCLC supports legislation that makes abortion safe, legal, and accessible for all New Yorkers.
- History of Abortion, the National Abortion Federation: https://prochoice.org/education-and-advocacy/about-abortion/history-of-abortion/
- History of Abortion Rights in the U.S., Info Graphic World: http://infographicworld.com/blogs/history-abortion-rights-us-timeline/
- Timeline of Abortion Laws and Events, the Chicago Tribune: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-abortion-timeline-story.html