Letter: Reproductive Health Act empowers women

Originally published in the Albany Times Union -- March 4, 2019

It is a power shift, empowering women. It is justice and aligning with the law of the land. It is one's right to self-determination. It is New York state's Reproductive Health Act, made law on Jan. 22.

It took nearly five decades of tenacity, advocacy and leadership, but finally the women of New York have been given the power that previously was denied them. Now, women coming from many backgrounds and holding different beliefs have this in common: the power of self-determination with respect to their own reproductive health. Each woman is now guaranteed the right to make her own personal health care decisions with her health care provider throughout the course of her pregnancy. Should complications arise later in pregnancy, medical professionals may now provide needed care.

In short, the women of New York are no longer subject to political ideologies that jeopardize their health, and they are now allowed to make their own compassionate decision with a health care professional that they trust.

The passage of the Reproductive Health Act is cause for celebration indeed. However, misinformation and fearmongering are the watchwords of many, and it is imperative that we who believe in access to safe, legal abortion and oppose restrictions on that access raise our voices in continued support of reproductive health for all women.

Dawn Jablonski

Roe v Wade Anniversary Event and RHA!

Hey all, sorry it's been a while since we've had an update. Things, as you can imagine, have been a little nuts around here.

This Tuesday, Jan 22, is the anniversary of the passage of Roe v Wade, making access to safe, legal
abortion the law of the land. With the confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court, we have been worried about the future of Roe v Wade. Therefore, we decided to have our annual Roe v Wade event on the actual anniversary this year.

The event begins at 5:30PM on 1/22/19 at the Renaissance Hotel in Albany. Tickets include beer, wine and soda, and hot and cold hors d'oeuvres. We will be honoring Eleanor's Legacy and the NYS Bipartisan Pro-Choice Legislative Caucus, and our Keynote speaker for the evening will be NYS Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.  We would love for you to join us, and you can purchase your ticket here.

The other amazing thing going on that day, is the long-awaited passage (we hope) of the Reproductive Health Act (RHA).  If you're not sure what that is, here are some cliff's notes.

• NYS legalized abortion three years before Roe v Wade, and is out of date. RHA will make it consistent with federal law.
• One of the ways it is inconsistent with federal law, is that it is listed in the NYS penal code, not the health code. We hope to remedy that with RHA.
• Our antiquated state law lacks a health exception, forcing individuals to leave our state for care later in pregnancy, in the rare and tragic cases when their health is at risk or a fetus is not viable.

This has been ten years in the making, so we will be gathering at the Capitol to rally and hopefully witness the passage of the bill on the Assembly and Senate floors. Please join us for this exciting and important moment. We will be gathering at three. The details are in the facebook event I linked to above, but it is important that you register if you plan to join us. This is a free event, but we need to have a tally of who will be joining us for security purposes.

This is a very exciting time to be a New Yorker, which is refreshing when juxtaposed with all the terrible nonsense happening in Washington. We hope you will join us!