TALKING POINTS ON THE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH ACT
January 30, 2019
The following talking points were developed in order to answer questions about New York’s Reproductive Health Act (RHA) or any related proactive abortion legislation, and particularly to respond to tough questions about these bills’ implications for later abortion care.
What the Reproductive Health Act does:
- On January 22, 2019, New York passed the Reproductive Health Act (RHA).
- With the RHA in place, medical providers are able to meet the needs of their patients without political interference. It accomplished three main things:
- New York State now treats abortion as health care, not a criminal act. No other medical procedure is regulated as a crime, and abortion should be no different.
- The RHA ensures that qualified health care providers can provide safe abortion care without fear of punishment.
- Providers can now provide abortion after the 24th week of pregnancy if a woman’s health or life is in danger, or if a fetus is not viable.
- Erika Christensen’s story is an example of the harsh reality women faced before the RHA if they had health complications or unviable pregnancies. They were often forced to risk their health and wellbeing by traveling out of state to receive critical abortion care.
- Every pregnancy is different, and legislators should never tie the hands of medical professionals who should be free to provide the best care for their patients.
Tough Question: Does the RHA (or laws like it) allow abortion up to the point of birth?
- This is an inflammatory misrepresentation of this bill/act. Anti-abortion politicians for too long have tried to micromanage this medical procedure to score political points. We need to leave medicine to the medical professionals.
- Let me tell you what this bill/act actually does. It ensures that when serious medical complications arise later in pregnancy, doctors have access to the full range of medical treatment options, including c-section, induction, or abortion if that is the safest course– all based on what’s best for a woman’s specific medical circumstance, and without medically unnecessary requirements or political interference.
- This bill/act is about making sure that at every point in pregnancy, a woman’s health drives important medical decisions. Politicians are not medical experts and this is not an area where they should be interfering.
If you have further questions about the Reproductive Health Act, please contact Tara Sweeney, tsweeney@nirhealth.org