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Governor Kathy Hochul at this time issued a letter urging Congress to take motion to guard abortion companies and entry to care.
“When New York legalized abortion three years earlier than Roe v. Wade, our state served as a protected harbor for these in search of abortion care, and with Supreme Court docket threatening to strike down Roe, we stand able to as soon as once more welcome these in want,” Governor Hochul stated. “I urge Congress to behave instantly to safeguard abortion entry throughout the nation and be sure that states like New York have sufficient help to accommodate further sufferers who will want our assist. I’m proud to proceed New York’s lengthy custom of being on the forefront of equal rights and reproductive well being. New York State is a blueprint for entry to abortion, one which states throughout the nation ought to comply with. Now could be the time for decisive, daring motion to make sure that abortion stays protected, authorized, and accessible for all who want it.”
Governor Hochul’s letter follows the leaked draft of the upcoming Supreme Court docket choice in Dobbs v. Jackson.
Learn the complete textual content of the letter beneath:
Pricey Chief Schumer, Chief McConnell, Speaker Pelosi, and Chief McCarthy,
On Might 2, a leaked draft of the upcoming Supreme Court docket choice in Dobbs v. Jackson Girls’s Well being abruptly threw into query reproductive rights protections established by Roe v. Wade almost 50 years in the past. The anticipated Supreme Court docket choice will take away authorized safety for abortions, denying the fundamental human rights of ladies and relegating determinations about abortion rights and reproductive well being to the states.
New York legalized abortion in 1970 – three years earlier than the landmark Roe v. Wade choice. In that point, New York served as a protected harbor for girls in search of care, with well being officers estimating that greater than 400,000 abortions had been carried out within the state within the first two years after the legalization, of which two-thirds had been for girls who traveled from out of state. Now, if Roe is overturned, we may count on at the very least an 11 to 13 p.c improve in out-of-state sufferers touring to New York for abortion care. Historical past will repeat itself.
I’m proud to proceed New York’s lengthy custom of defending girls’s rights and reproductive well being, and I stand prepared for New York to as soon as once more function a protected harbor for individuals who want abortion care. However we can’t do that alone. I applaud the Home for its passage of the Girls’s Well being Safety Act. Subsequent week, the Senate will as soon as once more take up this laws in an try and codify abortion rights and the protections of Roe. I urge you not solely to enact this laws and shield entry to abortion – as we’ve already performed in New York – but additionally to deal with different insidious boundaries that impede entry to reproductive well being care.
Congress should instantly act to guard abortion companies and entry to care throughout the nation, taking steps together with however not restricted to:
- Codify Roe v. Wade into Federal Legislation: With out the protections afforded beneath Roe, abortion will change into more durable to acquire and afford, disproportionately harming girls of coloration, individuals residing within the South and Midwest, people with low incomes, immigrants, and others who already face boundaries to healthcare, who could not be capable to simply journey to protected harbors like New York. Whereas New York stays dedicated to defending abortion rights and entry, it’s unacceptable that these in want of abortion care in different states can be denied their rights. As talked about above, it’s previous time to go a nationwide regulation, just like the Girls’s Well being Safety Act, to enshrine the precise to entry abortion companies.
- Repeal the Hyde Modification: For many years, the Hyde Modification has prevented federal funds from getting used for abortion companies, together with medical health insurance funds that help low-income Individuals. New York is proud to be one among solely 15 states to cowl abortion through state Medicaid {dollars}. Congress should eradicate the Hyde Modification to make sure that no particular person is denied entry to abortion attributable to earnings or medical health insurance plan.
- Present Federal Assist to Protected Harbor States: New York State is making ready to welcome these from out of state who search abortion care if Roe v. Wade is overturned, simply as we did within the years earlier than the landmark choice. For New York State to totally step up and be capable to accommodate everybody who wants care, we’d like important federal help to bolster our supplier community and accommodate these new sufferers. Following motion to repeal the Hyde Modification, Congress should make federal funding obtainable to states like New York that count on an inflow of sufferers from different states.
- Require States Receiving Medicaid Funds to Comply with FDA Pointers on Medical Abortion Medicines: At the side of repealing the Hyde Modification, any state receiving Medicaid funding and collaborating within the Medicaid drug rebate program needs to be required to permit medicines reminiscent of mifepristone, an FDA approved-drug, to be prescribed through telehealth. Such an motion would override states with mifepristone prescription limitations already in place and open up an vital new channel for protected and authorized abortion companies.
- Develop Telehealth Providers: Telehealth has emerged as vital device to serve residents who’ve restricted entry to the normal healthcare system attributable to value, location, language boundaries or different causes. Entry to telehealth for reproductive care should be on par with different eligible medical companies. Federal funds should be elevated to assist our reproductive well being suppliers attain all who want who want care, together with sufferers in search of abortions through telehealth.
- Make sure the U.S. Postal Service’s Capability to Ship Abortion Medicine to All States: As many states work to shut off avenues to protected abortion companies inside their borders, the demand for abortion-inducing medicines by means of mail and supply companies is rising. The U.S. Postal Service is a essential companion to fulfill the present demand, and Congress should adequately fund the postal service to make sure sufferers can obtain prescribed medical abortion medicines, no matter their zip code.
In New York, my crew and I are working tirelessly to offer entry to high quality, reasonably priced healthcare – together with abortion companies. Underneath my route, New York State’s Division of Well being finalized laws aligning New York regulation with scientific requirements to offer a protected medical expertise for sufferers, free from stigma. New York suppliers can supply abortion telehealth companies with out pointless boundaries. We have now convened an Abortion Entry Working Group, assembly usually with sufferers, suppliers, and advocates to information state coverage and reply to on-the-ground wants. And in our recently-passed State Price range, we enshrined into regulation a requirement for well being plans to cowl abortion companies with out cost-sharing.
New York State is a blueprint for a way reproductive well being companies, together with abortion, might be structured with a deal with actual individuals’s experiences and desires, not political rhetoric. Now could be the time for decisive, daring motion to make sure that abortion stays protected, authorized, and accessible for all who want it.
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