Source: https://www.stargazette.com/story/news/politics/albany/2019/02/01/abortion-law-ny-what-reproductive-health-act-does-and-doesnt-do/2743142002/
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 17:47:06+00:00

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Donald Trump referenced New York's new abortion law in his State of the Union address. But what does it actually do?
ALBANY – Proponents of New York's new abortion law say it installs the rights afforded women under the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision into state law, protecting them if a conservative court overturns the landmark 1973 case.
Opponents — including President Donald Trump, who referenced the law in his State of the Union address — say it goes well beyond that and legalizes late-term abortions until the moment of birth.
The truth, unsurprisingly, is more complicated.
The state Reproductive Health Act continues to garner national headlines and stir social-media debate, with Trump on Thursday accusing Democrats of becoming "the Party of late term abortion" and Vice President Mike Pence faulting Gov. Andrew Cuomo for lighting the World Trade Center pink to celebrate the bill's passage.
Cuomo signed the measure into law on Jan. 22 after the Democrat-led Legislature approved it earlier in the day.
Does New York's new law codify Roe v. Wade?
Yes — but it goes beyond that, too.
First, a refresher: Roe v. Wade says states can regulate or even prohibit abortion after the point of fetal viability — 24 to 28 weeks — so long as they make an exception for abortions that protect the mother's life or health.
The abortion occurs before the end of the 24th week of the pregnancy.
The abortion is "necessary to protect the patient's life or health."
There is an absence of "fetal viability," or the ability for the fetus to survive outside the womb.
The first two circumstances are rights guaranteed by the Roe v. Wade decision, which was handed down three years after the state's previous abortion laws went on the books.
The "fetal viability" provision in New York's law is a new addition, and it's meant to cover instances when a woman learns late in her pregnancy that a fetus isn't viable.
Meanwhile, the Reproductive Health Act also takes abortion out of the state's criminal code and expands the health-care providers that can perform the procedure in the state, both of which are measures not dealt with in Roe v. Wade.
Is abortion legalized until the moment of birth?
In a New York Post op-ed, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York, said the new law "allows for an abortion right up to the moment of birth."
The law allows late-term abortions under limited circumstances.
As discussed above, third-trimester abortions — after the 24th week of pregnancy — are only permitted if it's necessary to protect the mother's life or health or there's an "absence of fetal viability."
Nationwide, such late-term abortions are rare: About 1.3 percent of all abortions came after the 21st week of pregnancy, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Who gets to decide whether a mother's health is in danger?
The new state law leaves it up to the mother's health-care provider to "use their reasonable and good faith professional judgment based on the facts of the patient's case."
Opponents of the new law, like Dolan, say the health exception would allow late-term abortions for almost any reason.
But the health exception isn't new: It's required by Roe v. Wade, even when a woman is late in her term. Still, many abortion providers in New York were hesitant to use the exception since prior state law only included an exception for the mother's life.
Another Supreme Court decision, Doe v. Bolton, says "health" refers to "all factors — physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman's age — relevant to the well-being of the patient" when it comes to an abortion.
On Friday, Cuomo said he believes conservatives are angered by New York's law because they want to see Roe v. Wade repealed.
"Our law says we're codifying Roe v. Wade, same language — life or health of the mother," Cuomo said on public radio's The Capitol Pressroom. "Why is the Catholic Church and the extreme conservative Republicans upset? Because they want to roll back Roe v. Wade."
Critics said the law will lead to more late-term abortions.
"Contrary to the rhetoric of RHA advocates, abortion access does nothing to advance the rights of women," said Jason McGuire, executive director of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, a conservative group. "Rather, it invites both women and men to view unborn children — their own unborn children — as disposable objects,"
Does the new law strip away criminal penalties for abortion?
Until Cuomo signed the Reproductive Health Act, New York's abortion laws had been in the state penal code since 1970.
The penal code laid out various criminal penalties for those who performed an illegal abortion, including doctors who performed one after the 24th week if the mother's life was not in danger.
The new law ended those criminal penalties, with proponents saying it sends a message that abortion is a medical procedure, not a crime.
"The Reproductive Health Act recognizes reproductive health care as a fundamental right," Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement. "It takes abortion out of the criminal code and puts it where women's health belongs — in the public health law."
Opponents — including Senate Republicans — say decriminalizing abortion strips away legal protections for pregnant women who are victims of domestic abuse.
"A victim’s attacker must be charged with every single count possible," said Sen. Cathy Young, R-Olean, Cattaraugus County.
Supporters say New York has plenty of other criminal penalties that would protect against a pregnant woman who is assaulted and loses her child, including first-degree assault, which carries a penalty of five to 25 years in prison.
Until Cuomo signed the new law, first-degree abortion was punishable by up to seven years in prison.
Will non-physicians be able to provide abortions?
This is another change in the law that goes beyond codifying Roe v. Wade.
Under prior New York law, only physicians were able to provide abortions in the state.
The Reproductive Health Act allows other health-care professionals — such as nurse practitioners and physician assistants — to do so, but only if they are licensed and certified by the state and are acting within their legal scope of practice.
Supporters of the law say that's necessary to make sure all women have access to abortion care, even if they live in low-populated areas.
"Ensuring that medical providers who are trained and qualified to provide abortion care can do so is especially important in rural and other medically underserved communities," the National Institute for Reproductive Health wrote in a memo Friday.
Dolan, in his op-ed, took issue with the non-physician measure, saying it is designed to make abortion "more convenient and easy."
"It’s been a rough time for faithful Catholics recently in our state government’s frantic rush for 'progressive' ideas," he wrote.

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