By Lily Bohlke
Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Tuesday a new state fund for supporting abortion providers, in anticipation of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
She directed the State Department of Health to put $25 million into a fund to expand capacity and ensure access, as well as $10 million for reproductive health centers to acquire security grants to keep providers safe.
"We have seen the threats and actually the action of anti-abortion violence, and the climate is getting more extreme every single day," Hochul asserted. "It's only going to get worse as this decision is rendered in the next few weeks, and need to be ready, and we will be ready here in the state of New York."
Hochul called on the federal government to codify Roe v. Wade, and also repeal the Hyde Amendment, which prevents federal funding from going to abortions.
The state Attorney General and lawmakers in the New York state Legislature have announced the Reproductive Freedom and Equity Program, a bill to provide financial resources to abortion providers and support the influx of individuals who are and will be coming to New York to access abortions.
If Roe v. Wade is overturned, 26 states will ban or are likely to ban abortion, and about 40 million women live in those states.
Sen. Cordell Cleare, D-New York City, who sponsored the bill, emphasized access to abortion is a fundamental part of women's health care.
"Any rollback or constraint of any health care right is fundamentally unjust," Cleare argued. "We know it will have particular harm on women of color, those of modest means and those already suffering disparities under our current system. We cannot, and we will not, let it stand."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 9% of abortions performed in New York in 2019 were for people from other states -- about 7,000 individuals -- and the number could grow four times or more.
Illinois is the only other state in the nation serving as many out-of-state abortion patients.
