City Council working on abortion bills
A top city health official said Friday that Mayor Adams’ administration supports several new City Council bills designed to expand abortion services and protections — the legislative body’s response to a Supreme Court decision last week overturning Roe v. Wade.
The bills, which were announced Thursday, include measures to enable health clinics to provide abortion pills for free, prohibit city cash from paying for enforcement of abortion restrictions and allow for civil lawsuits against entities interfering with medical care, such as anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers.
“It is essential that the city does everything within its power to protect the rights of people who get abortions in this city and ensure access to sexual and reproductive health care services,” said Laura Louison, assistant commissioner of the city Health Department’s Bureau of Maternal, Infant and Reproductive Health. “We look forward to discussing the specifics of each bill after the hearing.”
While Louison, who spoke Friday at the Council’s Committee on Women and Gender Equity, said the administration supported the “goals” and “intent” of the new bills, she didn’t say what, if anything, needs to be revised.
When asked about this, Louison declined to comment, but a Health Department spokeswoman said there are still legal and logistical issues that must be hammered out.
Councilwoman Carlina Rivera (D-Manhattan), who is sponsoring the bill that would make abortion pills free, said one of those hurdles could include funding.
Councilwoman Tiffany Cabán (D-Queens) who chairs the committee, said a lot of the response from the Adams administration amounted to “we have to figure it” — including whether the city would help pay for people to travel to the city to receive services like abortions.
“I think that in a very uncertain time, lawyers are taking long hard looks about what they think the legal implications are, what challenges are going to look like, because I think there’s going to be a real commitment towards challenging any efforts that we make to provide the care to folks, especially across state lines.”