Reproductive Health Act

Prior to the passage of the Reproductive Health Act (RHA), New York law banned third-trimester abortions except when necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman.[3][4] Before the RHA was passed, New York law required that abortions be performed only by licensed physicians.[1]

The Reproductive Health Act and similar bills were proposed in the New York State Legislature beginning in 2007,[5][6][7] but such legislation was blocked by Senate Republicans for years.[8] After Senate Democrats gained a majority in the State Senate in the 2018 elections,[9] they vowed to make the passage of the Reproductive Health Act a priority.[10]

The Reproductive Health Act passed the New York State Senate by a vote of 38-24 on January 22, 2019,[11][12] the 46th anniversary of the United States Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade ruling. The state Assembly passed the Reproductive Health Act, 92-47, on the same day;[13][14] it was signed into law by Governor Andrew Cuomo that evening.[15] Cuomo ordered One World Trade Center and other landmarks to be lit in pink to celebrate the bill's passage.[16][17] The celebratory lighting of One World Trade Center was criticized by Vice President Mike Pence,[2] by Timothy Cardinal Dolan,[18] and by U.S. Senator Ben Sasse;[19] it was decried by one New York Daily News columnist as an act of trolling and politicizing the memorial to the victims of the September 11 attacks to celebrate the passage of a divisive law.[20]

The RHA legalized abortion at any time "when necessary to protect a woman's life or health"[15][23] or in the absence of fetal viability.[2] The act allows licensed health care practitioners other than physicians to perform abortions if doing so falls within their lawful scope of practice.[1][2] According to CBS New York, the act also repealed "criminal charges for harming children in the womb",[24] but not for harming pregnant women.[25][26]

Supporters argued the bill was needed to codify abortion rights in the state in the event that Roe v. Wade is overturned and the issue of abortion legality returns to the states.[15] Supporters also said the bill was needed to take abortion out of the state criminal code and place it in public health law.[27]

The RHA was criticized because it removed abortion from the criminal code, with potential consequences for crimes against pregnant women. State Representative Nicole Malliotakis said removing abortion from the criminal code means that if a fetus dies as the result of an assault on a woman, there would be no prosecution.[28] Two legislators who sponsored the act wrote an op-ed arguing that violence resulting in a loss of pregnancy could still be prosecuted as first-degree assault.[29] In February 2019, the Queens district attorney's office dropped a charge of second-degree murder against a man who murdered his pregnant girlfriend, saying their ability to press the charge was repealed by the Reproductive Health Act. However, the man was still charged with murder, a superseding offense, and as such the dropped charge would not affect sentencing.[30]

• Repeal Act (Virginia)