Letter to the Editor: Support Reproductive Rights Bills, Call Sen. Terrence Murphy

To the Editor:

On June 2, 2017 at 12:30 a group of constituent activists from CD17 Indivisible, Croton-on-Hudson Indivisible (COHI), and Putnam Progressives, in addition to the Director of Public Affairs for Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic, met with Mr. John Winton, Director of Community Affairs & Special Projects, Jamie Sprague, Director of Constituent Services, and their Intern to ask Senator Terrence Murphy to co-sponsor the Reproductive Health Act (S2796) and the Comprehensive Contraception Coverage Act (S3668). Senator Murphy sits on the committees for both of these bills.

Senator Murphy had concerns regarding the decriminalization of late term abortions covered in the Reproductive Health Act. We asked what the specific concern was - as of now there is no answer. We impressed upon the staff that women who were faced with this difficult choice were in the midst of a medical emergency, and as such the regulation of abortion should be moved into the public health law where it belongs.

Senator Murphy had concerns regarding the use of emergency contraception covered in the Comprehensive Contraception Coverage Act. Our Planned Parenthood representative explained that Plan B/emergency contraception was in fact, contraception, which prevented implantation from occurring in the first place, and that it was not the same thing as the "Abortion Pill," RU 486.

Time is of the essence if these bills are going to be moved out of committee and brought to the floor for a vote this session. Residents in New York Senate District 40 (https://www.nysenate.gov/district/40) in favor of reproductive freedom are encouraged to call upon the Senator to “co-sponsor” these bills. He may be reached at his Shrub Oak office at 914-962-2624, and at his Albany office at 518-455-3111.

Elise-Ann Konstantin

Cortlandt