Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation Tuesday that will expand abortion access across New York’s public college campuses and make contraception available over the counter in the Empire State.
The governor signed the measures exactly a year after the US Supreme Court’s draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion nationwide 50 years ago, was publicly leaked.
The explosive court ruling removed the federal guarantee to abortion and instead left the issue up to the states.
“We are sick and tired of judges and lawmakers telling us what to do with our bodies,” Hochul said at a press conference in Albany after signing the two bills into law.
“Our state has, from the beginning, fought this great fight. Abortion was legal in New York three years before the rest of the nation, before Roe v. Wade was decided.
“As anti-choice extremists and judges continue to roll back abortion rights across the country, we are fighting back here in New York.”
The first bill Hochul signed into law ensures that any student enrolled at a State University of New York or City University of New York campus will have access to abortion medication.
The second piece of legislation will allow pharmacists to dispense contraception over the counter, as opposed to requiring a prescription.
The moves come just weeks after a Texas judge blocked the federal Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the abortion pill, mifepristone.
Mifepristone — which is used in combination with a second drug, misoprostol, in more than half of all abortions across the country — has been approved for use since 2000 in the US.
The US Supreme Court later preserved access to the abortion pill across the country as appeals play out.
On Tuesday, the governor decried the Texas ruling as “an attack on abortion and, ultimately, an attack on democracy.
“Just a few weeks ago, we saw a hardline MAGA judge in Amarillo, Texas, issue an unprecedented decree banning medication that countless women have relied upon safely to terminate pregnancies or manage miscarriages, overruling the experts, doctors, the FDA, scientists,” Hochul said.
She has previously vowed to start hoarding supplies of the second drug, misoprostol, in the wake of the Texas judge’s move to strike down the FDA’s approval of mifepristone.
“We’re going to do everything in our power to stop the backslide while expanding reproductive rights here in our state,” Hochul said Tuesday.
“I know that there are states where these battles are going to be waged, which is why I’ve taken action as governor to make sure that New York remains a sanctuary for anyone seeking reproductive care, that abortion remains safe, accessible and legal in our state.”
-Additional reporting by Zach Williams