NYCF Opposes the Reproductive Health Act

S2524 (Klein) / S2844 (Stewart-Cousins) / A6112 (Glick)

This bill, known as the Reproductive Health and Privacy Protection Act (RHAPP), was first introduced by former Governor Eliot Spitzer in 2008 and was carried in the State Senate by Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers). The bill was deemed too radical for even the liberal Democratic leadership in the State Assembly and could not find a sponsor in that house until 2010. In mid-June 2010, Asm. Deborah Glick (D-Manhattan) became the sponsor of the Assembly's companion bill. Then in early 2011, Senator Jeff Klein (D-Brooklyn) sponsored his own version of the Reproductive Health Act.

The Reproductive Health Act (RHA) is being billed as a mere codification of the 1973 US Supreme Court Decision known as Roe v. Wade, but in fact it would be the greatest expansion of abortion rights since that infamous 1973 Decision. The bill has many flaws, including violation of religious freedoms and removing what few restrictions exist on abortion, ultimately endangering the life and health of women.

RHA would establish a “fundamental right of privacy” within New York State law, encompassing the right “to terminate a pregnancy.” This language goes well beyond merely codifying Roe v. Wade in New York law. It significantly diverges from the Supreme Court’s interpretation of Roe which rejected the view that a woman has a “fundamental” right to abortion. Instead, the Court said that states may regulate abortion, as long as those regulations do not place an “undue burden” on the right to an abortion. This bill says that abortion is fundamental and thus untouchable – no regulations on abortion, ever.

RHA would ensure that abortions, possibly even partial-birth abortions, are legal throughout all nine months of pregnancy if they are deemed necessary to protect the life or “health” of the mother. The US Supreme Court has interpreted the term “health” so broadly as to include social, economic and emotional distress factors, rendering the term virtually meaningless. Current state law says abortions are legal in New York through 24 weeks of pregnancy (Article 125 Penal Law), but outlawed after that unless they are deemed necessary to save a woman’s life. This bill would repeal that law and permit all third-trimester abortions. Federal law now prohibits one particular method of later-term abortion known as “partial-birth abortion,” but that federal ban is limited in its reach, meaning the RHA could even permit partial-birth abortions in New York State.
RHA could undermine conscience protection in current law by requiring every institution licensed or funded by the state – including religious hospitals, agencies and schools – to support abortion, provide coverage for abortion, or to permit abortions. While this bill contains limited conscience protection, that protection is ambiguous and inadequate and appears to be extended only to individual health providers who do not wish to “provide” abortions. The protection is not extended to hospitals or other institutions, or to individuals who do not wish to be involved with abortion through counseling, referrals or insurance coverage. The legislation declares that “the state shall not discriminate” against the exercise of the fundamental right to abortion in the “provision of benefits, facilities, services or information.” It opens the door for state regulators, such as the State Health Department or State Insurance Department, to mandate support for abortion from any agency or institution licensed or funded by the state.

RHA lowers health standards for women. The bill would repeal current state law requiring that only doctors can perform abortions (current state law requires a “duly licensed physician”), and does not require that abortions be done in a hospital, even after viability, nor require a physician, prior to viability, only a healthcare practitioner (a very broad legal term). Healthcare practitioners should never be allowed to perform surgical procedures such as abortions.

RHA could be used to undermine the state’s maternity programs. These beneficial programs, which are working well to reduce infant mortality, could be ruled “discriminatory” for favoring childbirth over abortion, if this bill were to become law.

RHA would disallow any criminal penalties for abortion, and removes language from previous versions of the bill which allowed for medical misconduct charges against those who would perform unauthorized abortions. The current version allows for absolutely no actions against doctors or non-doctors (see above) that perform unauthorized abortions. This does not protect women’s health.

In summary, under this legislation, abortion would be decriminalized, less safe and more available. It undermines parental rights and authority. It prohibits a woman’s right to know and her informed consent.

For these and other reasons, New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms and the thousands of churches it represents strongly urge the defeat of this legislation.