8 Shocking Facts About New York’s Radical Abortion Law

The New York State legislature has put in place one of the most radical abortion laws in the United States following a vote in both chambers on Tuesday.

The law is meant to put forth the “fundamental right” to abortion and end protections from babies in the womb up to birth.

Lifesite News reported: 

The state Senate voted 38-24 in favor of the so-called “Reproductive Health Act” Tuesday evening, the Albany Times-Union reports, a bill that has repeatedly cleared the state Assembly in years past but been blocked by the formerly-Republican Senate. Following the Senate vote, the Assembly passed it 92-47.

“We have a president who’s made it very, very clear that he wants to overturn Roe v. Wade,” Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins declared before the vote. “Today, here in New York, we are saying no […] and we’re not just saying no. We’re saying that here in New York, women’s health matters. We’re saying here in New York, women’s lives matter. We’re saying here in New York, women’s decisions matter.”

Here are eight facts about New York’s new abortion law:

– The “fundamental” right to abortion is enshrined in the New York Constitution. “Every individual who becomes pregnant has the fundamental right to choose to carry the pregnancy to term, to give birth to a child, or to have an abortion, pursuant to this article,” the law states.

– The law allows non-physicians to perform abortions. “A health care practitioner licensed, certified, or authorized under title eight of the education law, acting in his or her lawful scope of practice, may perform an abortion,” the law states.

– The law allows abortion through the third trimester, including up to birth. “Third-trimester abortion will be allowed under the new law when a preborn child is diagnosed with a condition that will cause him or her to die at or shortly after birth,” Live Action reported.

– The law removes protections for babies who survive an abortion procedure. “The new law removes protections for babies born alive after an abortion — meaning they could be left to die after birth — by rescinding a portion of New York’s public health law,” Live Action reported. Late-term abortions, until now, were illegal in the state of New York.

– The law prevents pregnant women whose babies are killed in an attack on the mother from seeking justice and could result in infanticide by repealing the requirement for a second physician to be on hand in case an attempted abortion past 20 weeks yields a live infant.

– The law states that an unborn child cannot be a victim of homicide if he dies while in the womb following an attack on the mother. “‘Person,’ when referring to the victim of a homicide, means a human being who has been born and is alive,” the law states.

– Pro-abortion advocates said the law would protect legal abortion even in the event that the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision to make abortion legal — a decision that did no go as far as the New York law. “[The law] not only increases access to abortion across the board, including late-term abortions but also goes beyond Roe, which left some limits in place,” Catholic News Service reported.

– The law is to “prevent the enforcement of laws or regulations that are not in furtherance of a legitimate state interest in protecting a woman’s health that burden abortion access.”

New York’s Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the bill into law.

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