Queens legislators rally behind abortion rights
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Queens lawmakers added their voices to those across the country demanding the protection of reproductive rights. Photo courtesy of Maloney’s office
By Rachel Vick
A group of Queens’ elected officials joined reproductive rights advocates gathered outside Planned Parenthood Manhattan Monday in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court hearing arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.
Together, activists like Gloria Steinem and elected officials including State Sen. Jessica Ramos, and U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, called for health equity and the passage of legislation to ensure access to birth control, abortion and reproductive healthcare.
“Reproductive rights are no longer being chipped away at; they are being bulldozed straight into the ground,” Maloney said. “Women aren’t full citizens—and there is no democracy—if we can’t control our own bodies. The time for action… is now. We must fight for reproductive justice by protecting and expanding access to abortion, birth control, and all forms of reproductive health care.”
The Mississippi abortion ban case, heard weeks after a hearing on the legality of SB8 — a similarly restrictive ban out of Texas — would ban abortions after 15 weeks of gestation. If upheld in the U.S. Supreme Court, legal experts worry the decision could be a threat to Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that protects a pregnant person’s right to choose to get an abortion.
The Women’s Health Protection Act, passed in Congress, and Maloney’s recently reintroduced Access to Birth Control Act would establish a right to abortion care and address patient’s uninfringed access to birth control.
In New York, the right to abortion has been codified by the state legislature, offering a safe haven for those from states with restrictive laws who are seeking safe services.
"No matter where they live, no one should have to leave their community to access abortion care,” said Gillian Dean, the chief medical officer at Planned Parenthood of Greater New York. “As an abortion provider in NYC, I already see patients who travel from Texas and other states to access abortion.”
“As we know, many people do not have the resources to travel for health care due to economic injustices and systemic racism,” Dean added. “We cannot be complacent and hope the courts will protect us while abortion access hangs on by a thread.”
Sonia Ossorio, president of the National Organization for Women in New York, described the future of American reproductive rights as being “in grave and imminent danger.”
There are more than 20 states poised to enact abortion bans to varying degrees if the Supreme Court rules in favor of the states working to overturn the precedent of Roe v. Wade — which established the 29-week mark as the earliest date a fetus could be viable for life outside of the womb.
Bans have historically disproportionately impacted low-income people and women of color who might have less access to the financial resources needed to travel, or who struggle to receive adequate medical care.
“The core of the fight for reproductive justice is the same as all of our liberation struggles. It is about freedom from control, coercion, and exploitation — namely of the most vulnerable and marginalized communities,” said Councilmember Tiffany Caban. “If banning abortions were about genuine care for human life, then the same people trying to take away our reproductive rights would also be fighting just as hard to give people the resources to parent. You can’t separate this fight from the Black mortality rate, the pipelines to mass incarceration, and deportation.”
“These are all reproductive justice issues.”
