NY Strengthens Abortion Protections On Roe V. Wade Anniversary

NEW YORK — Landmark legislation strengthening New York's abortion-rights protections was signed into law on Tuesday, the 46th anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling on which the bill is based.

The Reproductive Health Act enshrines in state law the protections laid out in Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that found the right to abortion is protected by the Constitution. Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the bill Tuesday evening after both chambers of the Democratic state Legislature passed it.

The occasion marked a victory for Democrats and abortion-rights advocates who had long pushed for the measure. Some lawmakers cast the move as a strike back at federal efforts to limit access to abortion.

"With the signing of this bill, we are sending a clear message that whatever happens in Washington, women in New York will always have the fundamental right to control their own body," Cuomo, a Democrat, said in a statement.

The new law says authorized health care practitioners can perform abortions within 24 weeks of the start of a pregnancy, if the fetus is not viable or if the procedure is needed to protect the patient's life or health. It also removes references to abortion from the state's criminal law.

Supporters argued measure was necessary to modernize New York's abortion laws, which were once groundbreaking but had become inadequate and outdated.

"With passage of the Reproductive Health Act, New York can finally grow to be a model of what sexual and reproductive health care should be, especially with mounting attacks on our health and rights from Washington," Laura McQuade, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of New York City, said in a statement.

The Reproductive Health Act was a priority for Cuomo and the Democrats who took control of the entire Legislature earlier this month. The state Assembly had passed the bill in 2017 and 2018, but it did not move forward under Republican control in the Senate.

Republicans remained opposed to the bill on Tuesday even as it finally passed the Senate 38-24. One GOP senator, Catharine Young of Olean, argued removing abortion language from the penal code was "an assault on a woman’s fundamental right to pregnancy," the Buffalo News reported.

But the opposition didn't stop Democrats from celebrating — Cuomo even had the spire of One World Trade Center lit in pink to mark the law's signing.

(Lead image: Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the Reproductive Health Act on Tuesday. Photo from Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Office/Flickr)