Message
Anti-abortion states are ramping up their efforts to strip away care and criminalize abortion providers and patients across the nation, including right here in New York. These witch-hunts have become disturbingly commonplace, and they are fueled by anti-abortion forces capturing and weaponizing our personal electronic information.
You have been a champion for abortion rights and access –– from supporting the New York Equal Rights Amendment in our State Constitution to repeatedly increasing state funding for abortion and signing New York’s first shield laws.
With political hostility against abortion and gender-affirming care reaching new heights, we must go further to ensure that New York State is a beacon for everyone seeking care.
1. The New York Health Information and Privacy Act
Getting and providing health care leaves a digital trail – collected through period tracking and fitness apps, phone records, search engines, and more. We must protect our digital health data from hostile states that would weaponize our data and health care decisions. Washington, Nevada, and Connecticut have all passed laws to protect their residents’ data.
The New York Health Information Privacy Act (S.929/A.2141) would ensure New Yorkers – not big tech companies, bad actors, or government entities – have control over our intimate health information.
2. Shield Law 2.0
Anti-abortion forces don’t just want our data; they want to punish the people who seek, provide, and help people access reproductive care. New York’s existing shield law leaves some gaps in protection that leave us vulnerable. For example, New York law doesn’t prevent private institutions from turning over sensitive information to hostile governments.
A bill that passed the legislature (S.4914-B/A.5480-C) would close this and other gaps in our shield laws so that people can access and provide care in New York knowing the state has their backs.
3. Hospital Transparency
Given the current climate around reproductive care, understanding where to access it is especially critical. Anyone seeking abortion and reproductive health care in New York should be able to easily figure out where they can receive it, just as they can in Washington and Colorado. This need is also acute as New York hospitals start denying gender-affirming care in over-reaction to Trump’s executive orders, forcing families to scramble to find the care they need.
The Hospital Transparency Act (A.3862/S.3486) would address this issue by allowing patients to see whether the hospital in their area provides the care they need, while laying the groundwork for increasing access to abortion, and other sensitive health care statewide.
As we face an all-out assault on our rights and personal lives, I urge you to live up to your commitment to reproductive rights by signing these bills.
These bills will ensure New York remains an access state, and signing them will solidify your reputation as a reproductive health champion. Now more than ever, New Yorkers must be able to get the care they need without fear. I urge you to sign these three bills into law today.
