ICYMI: Governor Hochul Stands Strong in Her Fight to Defend Access to Abortion

NEW YORK – In response to the draft Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, Governor Kathy Hochul is standing strong in her fight to defend safe, legal access to abortion. Both nationally and in New York, Governor Hochul is letting women know that she will protect their reproductive rights and ensure New York remains a safe harbor for reproductive health care.

While Governor Hochul is protecting New Yorkers’ right to choose, New York GOP gubernatorial candidates have made their extreme, anti-choice agenda abundantly clear, a direct warning to New Yorkers of what’s at stake in this election.

What New Yorkers are reading about Governor Hochul’s fight to protect abortion access:

• ABC News: “New York Gov. Kathy Hochul says not only will abortion remain legal in the Empire State if Roe v. Wade is overturned, but that clinics would welcome women from other states.”
• ABC 10 Albany: “For anyone who needs access to care, our state will welcome you with open arms. New York will always be a place where abortion rights are protected and where abortion is safe and accessible. Just as the Statue of Liberty lifts her lamp tall in our harbor, New York will never stop fighting for what’s right — unafraid and undeterred.”
• City & State New York: “‘This is something that Democrats are going to run on,’ Gov. Kathy Hochul said on NY1 Friday morning. ‘We need to run on this.’ She has wasted no time heeding her own advice, having already released two new campaign ads focused on abortion rights in the past week.”
• Gothamist: “The new campaign ads, one entitled ‘Strength’ and the other ‘Always Protect,’ time out to just 21 seconds combined and are part of an at least $10 million multimedia strategy targeting voters across the state. The first 15-second digital spot begins with a polaroid of the governor and her mother, who worked together on domestic violence issues. It ends with Hochul saying, ‘I’m protecting abortion access because I’ll always stand up for New York women.’”
• MSNBC: “New York Governor Kathy Hochul joins Yasmin Vossoughian to discuss New York’s preparations to accommodate an influx of out-of-state patients seeking abortion care if Roe v. Wade is overturned. ‘Unfortunately we already have a shortage somewhat of health care workers resulting from Covid. But I just put in $10 billion in our budget to ramp up all healthcare services,’ says Hochul. ‘We’ll need federal help,’ she explains, ‘This is going to be an enormous cost to us. But we want people to feel that this is a safe harbor.’”
• Newsday: “On Thursday, Hochul was doing national media to talk about how New York would be a refuge for those unable to get abortions in other states. She told Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC that the state is considering an amendment to New York’s Constitution establishing a right of privacy. Her campaign has also released a new ad saying she would protect access to abortions because, ‘I’ll always stand up for New York women.’”
• New York Daily News: “Gov. Hochul, who has vowed that New York will open its gates wide to out-of-staters seeking abortions if the Supreme Court follows through on its plans to overturn Roe v. Wade, said Thursday that she is examining ways to bolster the state’s status as a national safe haven.”
• New York Times: “In their first appearance together, Gov. Kathy Hochul and her newly announced pick for lieutenant governor, Representative Antonio Delgado, denounced the leaked draft opinion that would overturn Roe, and said New York would take action. ‘I refuse to go backwards,’ Gov. Hochul said, noting that abortion access was an issue generations of women before her had fought for. ‘The state of New York will always be there for anyone who needs reproductive health care, including an abortion,’ she added.”
• Politico: “The state already leads the nation in abortions per 1,000 women, federal records show, and Hochul vowed that New York, with its strong abortion-rights laws, would protect those who visit to get help. […] Since POLITICO on Monday reported on an initial draft majority opinion that would overturn the landmark 1973 decision, Hochul and leading Democrats in New York have been discussing new ways to bolster a 2019 state law that codified Roe, including adding a constitutional amendment.”
• Spectrum News 1: “Hochul and Democratic elected officials are expected to move in the coming weeks to approve new measures designed to strengthen the state’s abortion laws ahead of a pending Supreme Court ruling expected in late June or July that could overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling. New York already has some of the strongest abortion rights laws on the books.”
• Washington Post: “Friends for Kathy Hochul, ‘Strength.’ The New York governor’s reelection campaign was one of the first to cut an ad based on the leaked draft opinion in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. It’s a digital spot, 15 seconds long, that mentions abortion rights briefly in a monologue about how Hochul will ‘always stand up for New York women.’ She’s the only female candidate in the primary.”
• WSKG: “Hochul, speaking on MSNBC, said thousands of people seeking abortions may try to find health care in New York, where the rights enshrined in Roe v. Wade were codified into New York law in 2019, and will not be affected by the potential Supreme Court decision. The governor has said the state will welcome those patients with ‘open arms.’ And she said she will ask for federal funding to help with that effort.”
• WSHU: “One day after a leaked U.S. Supreme Court document indicated that the court is poised to strike down the landmark abortion case Roe v. Wade, Governor Kathy Hochul strongly defended a woman’s right to choose abortion, rallying with Planned Parenthood and supporters at the Capitol, and delivering a warning to opponents.”