Attorney General Clarifies Primacy of Roe Over Outdated NY Abortion Law

​New York - State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman issued a legal opinion clarifying that the outdated New York State penal law cannot criminalize abortion in cases when women are guaranteed that right through the Constitution. Read the press release here. Read the full AG opinion here.

New York was a pioneer in women’s health and legalized abortion before Roe v. Wade, but now our law is outdated. The AG’s opinion clarifies that abortions performed after 24 weeks are lawful when the fetus is not viable or when the abortion is necessary to protect the health of the woman, as protected by the Constitution.

Read the NY Times article on the AG opinion. Also, a Jezebel article details the efforts of a woman from New York having to bear the health risk and financial and emotional burden of traveling to Colorado to terminate a wanted pregnancy because the fetus was not viable.

We will not give up the fight to update our state laws to reflect the AG’s opinion and the rights enshrined in Roe v. Wade.