Op-ed: New York City Council Leads the Way to Protect Rights

Reproductive rights are human rights. Today, due to the Supreme Court’s shocking and unconscionably reasoned decision overturning Roe vs. Wade, healthcare rights are tragically at risk across the country.

For almost half a century, the right to determine and secure one’s own reproductive and related health care choices, decisions as individual and private as one can imagine, was constitutionally protected. In the wake of the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson on June 24th, patients and health care providers across the country have been thrown into a chaotic landscape.

Recognizing that procedures and legal protections available for decades were about to be denied with dizzying speed based on zip codes rather than rationality or humanity, New York did not wait to respond.

Governor Kathy Hochul preemptively signed a multipronged legislative package to protect abortion rights and healthcare providers, and The New York City Council, with its historic female majority, passed a comprehensive legislative package in June to strengthen such protections and create a safe, accessible city for those who need reproductive healthcare.

Today we will build on this foundation as the City Council will vote on legislation I am proud to sponsor that will expand the city's role with respect to sexual and reproductive health.

This legislation voted out of Council Member Lynn Schulman’s Committee on Health enshrines and codifies that the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene provides sexual and reproductive health services and conducts research on disparities within the city. Specifically, this includes conducting outreach, education, and support to vulnerable New Yorkers by providing access to services such as contraception, abortion, cancer screenings, and sexually transmitted infections.

As I stated during a City Council committee hearing in June, our city must be “vigilant and proactive in helping New Yorkers access services, testing, treatment, screenings, and health education.” By codifying and providing abortion and family planning services, as well as counseling and testing for HIV and sexually transmitted infections, we are ensuring that New York City will always provide invaluable services to those in need.

New York City must be prepared to protect the health of those living in our city and those who come here for services not available where they currently live. My legislation being voted on today will help do just that.

We must particularly prioritize health equity. Income, race, ethnicity, education, and immigration status should not determine a person’s access to sexual and reproductive services, especially as Black and indigenous women are "nearly three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women."

Our City Council is preparing New York City for the next wave of individuals needing reproductive health services. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4,668 out-of-state individuals sought abortions in 2019. With a growing number of states prohibiting or sharply curtailing abortion, demand will only increase in cities such as New York.

As mothers, we are frightened that our daughters will grow up with fewer rights than we did. But this is not a moment to be afraid, this is a moment to lead. We need to lead the fight to protect reproductive rights, just as we saw Kansas voters lead last week to defend and ensure abortion rights are protected in its state constitution.

Our City Council led by Speaker Adrienne Adams is dedicated to finding solutions in response to the healthcare crisis created and exacerbated by our Supreme Court. And I am dedicated to showing my daughter, my constituents, and everyone else looking for hope and action that you will find such hope and action in New York. We are dedicated to moving forward, not backward.