ALBANY, N.Y. — Doctors in New York who prescribe abortion capsules to sufferers in states the place the process is prohibited could be supplied with authorized safety underneath a invoice authorized by state lawmakers.
The measure, which can be thought-about by Gov. Kathy Hochul, is amongst a wave of state-level abortion payments taken up nationwide within the yr for the reason that U.S. Supreme Court struck down the nationwide proper to abortion. Advocates say the New York invoice, if authorized, would enable ladies in states across the nation to get abortion capsules extra safely and rapidly.
“It will make it much less difficult for people to get abortions with pills in a timely way,” stated Dr. Linda Prine, co-founder of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine Access. Prine stated she could be concerned within the effort.
A yr after the Dobbs ruling, 14 states have bans on abortion all through being pregnant – with some exceptions – whereas different states have adopted deep restrictions.
The invoice, given remaining legislative approval Tuesday, would defend medical professionals who present authorized reproductive companies by way of telemedicine to out-of-state sufferers. Under the measure, New York officers could be barred from cooperating with sure authorized actions initiated in states the place abortion is banned, akin to arrests or extraditions.
“I think that these other states are becoming bolder in how they come after abortion providers and people who seek abortion services or reproductive health services,” sponsoring Assemblymember Karines Reyes stated Wednesday. “So we just want to make sure that in New York we’re protecting them.”
More than half of abortions within the United States are actually carried out with treatment, in keeping with the New York Assembly.
The measure additionally would defend these suppliers from skilled self-discipline and malpractice insurance coverage price hikes. However, the invoice wouldn’t bar different states from urgent prices, and it will not take away the specter of individuals being extradited in the event that they journey past New York.
“New York here is doing what it can to take itself out of the equation as an obstacle to providing care,” stated Jenna Lauter, a authorized fellow on the New York Civil Liberties Union.
The New York invoice would lengthen protections authorized final yr to guard reproductive well being care suppliers from out-of-state litigation. New York is amongst 14 states which have enacted legal guidelines that defend individuals from out-of-state authorized actions since 2022, in keeping with the National Institute for Reproductive Health.
Several of these states embody protections for telehealth companies, together with Colorado, Connecticut and Illinois.
“These states that are stepping up right now, like New York has, are being really clear that they will not be complicit in any way in attempts by other states to engage in criminal prosecutions, professional sanction or civil action,” National Institute for Reproductive Health President Andrea Miller stated.
Hochul, who has supported abortion rights, has not stated whether or not she would signal the invoice. A spokeswoman stated in an electronic mail that “we are reviewing the legislation.”
One outstanding opponent is the New York State Catholic Conference, which accused New York of looking for to change into “the abortion capital of the United States.”
“This legislation is nothing more than political pandering – eroding standards through which doctors can be held accountable in order to appear progressive on the issue of abortion,” Kristen Curran, the convention’s director of presidency relations, stated in a ready assertion. “New York should respect the laws of other states, just as other states should respect New York’s.”
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