The New York State Assembly recently passed legislation ensuring that students attending public State University of New York (SUNY) and City University of New York (CUNY) schools have access to medication abortion in New York state.
“While the Supreme Court and states across the country roll back women’s access to abortion and reproductive health care, here in New York we will not,” New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie stated of the bill. “This bill will ensure that our public university and college students have access to care that will allow them to continue their education.”
The new bill requires every SUNY & CUNY campus to either employ or contract with authorized medication abortion prescribers or provide students referrals to a local authorized prescriber.
“Conservative extremists are attacking bodily autonomy and civil rights in our country by systematically undoing the abortion care Americans have traditionally had access to,” remarked New York State Assembly Member Harvey Epstein. “The latest decision from a Texas judge flies in the face of decades of extensive evidence demonstrating the safety and efficacy of mifepristone, which has been safely used for decades to terminate pregnancies. In New York we’re fighting back to guarantee not only the right to abortion but access to it for a population that has limited time, resources and transportation options. Importantly, the college age population are more likely to seek abortion care but have less resources to access it. We can change that. This legislation will ensure that the institutions where students live, work and spend their free time are making these services accessible. I want to thank Speaker Heastie and the advocates we worked with to bring this bill to the floor today.”
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