Legislature, Hochul rush to pass abortion protections before Supreme Court acts

ALBANY — Gov. Kathy Hocul and the State Senate and Assembly spent much of last week crafting and building support for a constitutional amendment and more than a dozen bills to further strengthen abortion protections in New York.

The furious effort in the legislative session's final weeks is fueled by a fear that the U.S. Supreme Court will overturn the Roe v. Wade decision that made abortion legal.

“We have to be proactive,” said Sen. Alessandra Biaggi (D-Bronx), “and not wait for enemies to be banging on the doors.” She referred to the bills introduced and amended since May 3, when a U.S. Supreme Court draft that argued for overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked.

Bills include new proposals, existing bills and ones that combined similar measures from an initial field of about 20 proposals early in the week. The final bills are expected to begin passing as early as next week. The session is scheduled to end June 2, before the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on an abortion case.

A constitutional amendment to enshrine the right to abortion in New York would be harder for the Supreme Court, Congress or future state legislatures and governors to weaken or repeal. That effort has the backing of Hochul and leading legislators, including Sen. Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan),

The proposal, like most of the bills, aims to protect abortion rights for New Yorkers as well as for an expected influx of women from other states seeking abortions through New York providers, either by procedures or in dispensing FDA-approved abortion pills by mail.

Called the New York Equality Amendment, it would bar discrimination against women seeking abortion as part of a broader set of protections against discrimination based on race, ethnicity, disability, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity.

“Any action that discriminates against a person based on a pregnancy outcome is a sex-based classification,” the measure states. “The state shall not use its police power or power of the purse to burden, limit, or favor any type of reproductive decision making at the expense of other outcomes.”

A constitutional amendment would require approval by the Legislature this year and again next year. The proposed amendment could then be on the November 2023 ballot for voters.

“I expect there will be first passage on a constitutional amendment on equal rights and abortion rights,” said Assembly Health Committee Chairman Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan). “I think the impending Supreme Court decision has galvanized everyone,” he told Newsday, “For 50 years we didn’t think we had to worry. But obviously we do.”

Hochul said last week that she’s working closely with the Democratic majorities of the Legislature on “every option available.”

“Access to reproductive health care is a human right,” Hochul said. “We'll do whatever it takes to defend the rights of not just New York women, but women all across this nation.”

On Tuesday, Hochul announced that she was releasing $35 million in health emergency funds that will be distributed to abortion providers to expand services and to protect patients and staff against anti-abortion activists. The day before, Democratic Attorney General Letitia James urged the Legislature to create a $50 million fund to help women from other states get abortions through New York providers.

Meanwhile, Republicans said the Democrats’ efforts this election year are politically motivated and unnecessary in New York, which has some of the most protective abortion laws. A few Republicans also introduced related bills, including measures to provide women seeking abortions with alternatives to consider, protection of fetuses born alive during abortions, and requiring parental notification of abortions performed on minors.

Senate Health Committee Chairman Gustavo Rivera said many bills will be part of a package of proposed protections for abortions and other rights.

“I expect it will be substantial,” Rivera (D-Bronx) said in an interview with Newsday. “I’m happy to say the discussions are at a high level … New York has been a beacon of legal and safe abortions and we will keep it that way.”

One proposal was introduced a day after the U.S. Supreme Court leak. It is called the “Reproductive Freedom and Equity Program” and is sponsored by the Assembly Rules Committee as a whole. That’s a way to signify strong support by leaders of the Democratic majority. A bill sponsored by “Rules” can move quickly through the committee process.

The measure would create a fund to “to drive grants to improve abortion access in New York.” The state would provide grants to nonprofit organizations to create greater capacity to perform abortions.

Other bills include:

• Measures to protect abortion providers serving women from other states from any malpractice or professional discipline actions.
• A measure to give women from out of state “the claim of unlawful interference with the protected rights” to block arrest if they are served by New York abortion providers in person or by mail.
• A measure that would bar law enforcement officers from arresting “any person for providing reproductive health care.” It also prohibits state and local law enforcement from cooperating with their counterparts from other states who investigate abortions provided by New York providers.
• A measure to prohibit medical malpractice insurance companies from “taking any adverse action” against an abortion provider.

Republican Sen. Thomas O’Mara of Elmira said Democrats are rushing these important bills with no public airing. However, under Albany’s rules Republicans in the minority of the Senate and Assembly won’t be able to stop the bills.

“There are a lot of unknowns,” he said. “It is not uncommon for this Legislature to rush things through.”

Sen. Phil Boyle (R-Bay Shore) repeated the Republican position that the Legislature shouldn’t focus its final days this year trying to preemptively fight a U.S. Supreme Court decision.

“New Yorkers want the Legislature to focus on crime and inflation,” Boyle said in an interview.

Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, however, said overturning Roe v. Wade would “impact every single person in this nation.”

“We can’t just sweep away peoples’ rights like this,” said. “States are the last line of defense … We will not leave here without doing additional work.”

By Michael Gormley

michael.gormley@newsday.com@GormleyAlbany

Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.