To protect women seeking abortions, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday he wants to go beyond changing state law, calling for a state constitutional amendment to protect such access, particularly if the landmark Roe v. Wade decision is overturned by a more conservative Supreme Court.
Cuomo was joined by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at Barnard College in Manhattan to make the announcement, which was cheered by advocates for reproductive rights.
“In this crazy political world, no one is really sure what happens, and you can pass a law today and lightning can strike and you could have a different political context,” Cuomo said. “They can pass a new law, which would repeal this law, so I want to take it a step further, and I want to pass this year a constitutional amendment.”
To pass a constitutional amendment, the state Legislature must propose the amendment, which is then reviewed by the state attorney general and returned to the Legislature, where it must pass both houses. It also must be approved by the next state Legislature, which will first convene in 2021, and then be approved by voters in a ballot referendum.
In the meantime, the state Legislature is expected to pass two reproductive health bills later this month to shore up current abortion protections, which were last enacted before Roe v. Wade.
The Reproductive Health Act would bring New York state law in line with the protections allowed in the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling by moving statutes related to abortion under the state public health law instead of the penal code and codifying that a medical provider may perform an abortion after 24 weeks of pregnancy under certain conditions. It also would allow nurse practitioners, physician assistants and midwives to provide nonsurgical abortion care.
Another bill, the Comprehensive Contraception Coverage Act, would require insurers to cover all forms of FDA-approved birth control.
The bills had previously stalled in a Republican-controlled Senate but are being reintroduced with a Democratic majority in Albany.
The governor said the laws are needed as a “prophylactic” from the federal government and said he would not approve a budget until they are passed.
Clinton accompanied Cuomo on stage to slam the barriers to accessing birth control that the Trump administration has put in place, such as loosening rules that allow employers to object to covering contraception.
“This administration has rolled back access to reproductive services at home and around the world and proposed cuts to international health, development and diplomacy that put both women's lives and our national security at risk,” Clinton said.
“Even in places like New York, which is home to some of the leading health care institutions in the world, we are in the midst of an epidemic of maternal mortality, which disproportionately affects black women.”
Correction: The year the Roe v. Wade decision was misstated in the original version of this story.