New York Governor Introduces a ‘Bill of Rights’ for Women to Combat Discrimination
In January, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) vowed to protect and bolster a host of women’s rights, from abortion to pay equity to domestic violence supports. On Tuesday, Cuomo followed through by introducing the Women’s Equality Act, a wide-ranging bill already facing backlash from anti-abortion advocates. Cuomo blasted “fear-mongering” over the bill’s updated abortion language and urged New Yorkers to accept the package. “Bias against women is sweeping. It exists. The discrimination exists. We’re not going to allow it to exist anymore,” Cuomo declared in a press conference Tuesday.
New York’s current abortion law predates the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic Roe v. Wade decision, which led to a federal law legalizing late-term abortions when a woman’s health is in danger. The state law has a more restrictive abortion limit at 6 months of pregnancy. Cuomo wants to update this law to reinforce the federal protections, while moving abortion regulation from criminal law to health law. The plan, which originally would have expanded the types of health professionals who could perform abortions, has already been scaled back to appease Republicans.
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