New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat, is pushing the Reproductive Health and Privacy Protection Act, which declares that women have a "fundamental right" to abortion — including in the third trimester. The bill also takes out any reference to the preborn child as a "person."
The state is already the national leader in abortions — the annual rate of 38 per 1,000 women of childbearing age is the highest of any state and twice the national average, the New York Daily News reported.
New York has neither mandatory waiting periods for abortion nor parental-notice requirements. The state Medicaid program covers abortion for poor women.
“Our governor wants to make sure that our state has the most strengthened law concerning abortion in the entire nation,” said the Rev. Jason McGuire, assistant to the director at New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms.
“That bill really creates some pretty heinous provisions. It violates not only the life of the unborn child, even in the third trimester, it actually endangers the life of the woman.”
