Hochul signs 6 bills to protect abortion and reproductive rights

NEW YORK (WHEC) — Gov. Kathy Hochul signed six bills to protect abortion, including a bill to prevent the extradition of someone to another state for prosecution if they get an abortion in New York State.

Hochul signed the legislative package at Cooper Union college in New York City at noon on Monday. The legislation includes protections for the private information of staff at abortion facilities to prevent them from being intimidated.

"The women of New York will never be subjugated to government mandated pregnancies because that’s what will ensue if Roe v. Wade is overturned by the Supreme Court," said Hochul. "New York has always been a beacon for those yearning to be free, and I want the world to hear that that will never change. We will stand up. We will fight back."

The six bills are in addition to legislation that provides $35 million to expand protections for abortion seekers and providers across the state. Gov. Hochul said as part of the executive order, $25 million will go toward abortion provider support funds and $10 million to keep health center workers and patients safe with security.

This comes after last week’s firebombing at a CompassCare in Lockport near Buffalo. Another law just signed today will create a task force to study the impact of what the governor called "limited service pregnancy centers," like CompassCare.

New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms says that will impose onerous and disruptive data collection and reporting requirements on pro-life pregnancy centers.

"These are centers that serve, at no taxpayer expense, some of the poorest women in this state, women often found in predominantly black and brown communities," New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms Executive Director Jason McGuire. "Gov. Hochul has not lifted a finger to promote the safety of New York’s pro-life pregnancy centers. Rather, she recently set aside millions in state funds for the protection of abortion clinics. In Kathy Hochul’s New York, pro-life pregnancy centers have been left vulnerable to rising abortion activism, while taxpayers fund her abortion extremism."

Here is a breakdown of the bills:

Legislation S.9039A/A.10094A establishes a cause of action for unlawful interference with protected rights. This will allow individuals to bring a claim against someone who has sued them or brought charges against them for facilitating, aiding, or obtaining reproductive health or endocrine care services in accordance with New York State Law.

Legislation S.9077A/A.10372A aims to provide certain legal protections for abortion service providers, those who assist someone else in obtaining an abortion, or individuals who self-manage an abortion. This bill provides those protections by creating a statutory exception for the extradition of abortion-related offenses, prohibiting courts from cooperating with out-of-state civil and criminal cases that stem from abortions that took place legally within their borders, and providing judicial protections by prohibiting law enforcement from cooperating with anti-abortion states’ investigations regarding abortions that look place legally.

Legislation S.9079B/A.9687B prohibits professional misconduct charges against healthcare practitioners on the basis that such healthcare practitioner, acting within their scope of practice, performed, recommended or provided reproductive healthcare services for a patient who resides in a state where such services are legal.

Legislation S.9080B/A.9718B prohibits medical malpractice insurance companies from taking any adverse action against an abortion or reproductive healthcare provider who performs an abortion or provides reproductive healthcare that is legal in the state of New York on someone who is from out of state.

Legislation S.9384A/A.9818A allows reproductive healthcare services providers, employees, volunteers, patients, or immediate family members of reproductive healthcare services providers to enroll in the State’s address confidentiality program to protect themselves from threats.

Legislation S.470/A.5499 directs the New York State Department of Health commissioner to conduct a study and issue a report examining the unmet health and resource needs facing pregnant people in New York and the impact of limited service pregnancy centers. This ensures New Yorkers have access to information and resources necessary to have healthy pregnancies with positive outcomes.

This comes after the leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion indicating the court may overturn Roe v. Wade.