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NYS Senate Leader: New Yorkers Would Have Access To Abortion After Roe

Alex Brandon
/
AP
Pro-abortion rights signs are seen during the March for Life 2016, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in January in Washington, during the annual rally on the anniversary of 1973 'Roe v. Wade' U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

Governor Cuomo’s proposal to pass a constitutional amendment enshrining the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 abortion decision Roe v. Wade into the state’s constitution, is not gaining much traction in the state Senate.

Cuomo announced his plan at a Planned Parenthood rally, but has so far offered no details. An effort to pass a law codifying the rights in Roe v. Wade has stalled in the Senate for years. Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, who leads the Senate with a group of independent Democrats, says he hasn’t seen the newest proposals, so can’t directly comment, but he says he’s not worried about the landmark decision being overturned by President Trump’s picks to the court.

“I don’t really see things changing in the state of New York,” Flanagan said, in an interview on public radio and television.

Flanagan says New York legalized abortion three years before Roe, and that law would still stand.

“There’s access, there’s safeguards,” said Flanagan. “And all of those things, regardless of what one might think of abortion, or access to it, those are things I think are very important.”

Abortion rights supporters say the 1970 New York law offers fewer protections than Roe, for instance after 24 weeks, abortion would only be permitted to save the life of the mother, the woman’s health considerations would not be taken into account. Flanagan says previous bills on abortion form the governor are “more radical” than Cuomo has let on.

Karen has covered state government and politics for New York State Public Radio, a network of 10 New York and Connecticut stations, since 1990. She is also a regular contributor to the statewide public television program about New York State government, New York Now. She appears on the reporter’s roundtable segment, and interviews newsmakers.