By: Hadassa Kalatizadeh
In a bid to further abortion rights, New York City health clinics will soon provide “medical abortions” with pills to terminate a pregnancy.
As reported by the NY Post, Mayor Eric Adam’s administration and the city’s Department of Health and Mental Health has filed a legal notice announcing its intent to enter into a “sole source” contract with Nixon-Shane LLC/ R&S Northeast LLC., to buy mifepristone tablets at 200 milligram dosages, also known as the abortion pill. Critics say this move will turn the Big Apple into an abortion mecca, attracting tourists visiting for the purpose of terminating their pregnancies. In the public notice, the NYC health department said it is inking a deal to purchase the abortion pills “to mitigate the threat to public health posed by the recent Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe vs Wade, which provided a constitutional right to abortion.” The high court federal ruling decided each state should pave its own way in legalizing or restricting abortions.
“This is abortion tourism. New York has gone way too extreme on abortion,” fumed State Conservative Party chairman Gerald Kassar. “We respect the sanctity of life. We believe life begins at conception and government funds should not be used for abortion,” Kassar added. States neighboring NYS, which are currently looking to limit or ban abortions include Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Delaware and Virginia. “Abortion is the killing of an innocent human life,” said Dennis Poust, executive director of the NYS Catholic Conference, which includes the Archdiocese of NY and Brooklyn-Queens Diocese. “Abortion, unfortunately, is New York’s answer to everything concerning pregnancy. Abortion is promoted as a social good. Why won’t New York help pregnant women who wish to keep their babies bring them to term and escape poverty?”
Mifepristone in use with another pill, Misoprostol, is effective in aborting a pregnancy which is within the first 11 weeks. It is different from the “morning after” pill, which is considered emergency contraception and can have side effects. As per the Post, the city health department would not specify how many abortion pills it is purchasing, or how much the contract will cost. Last year, Adams signed a law passed by the City Council requiring the health department to offer medicine for medication abortions, at no cost to patients, at city-run health clinics. He had allocated $1 million in the budget to boost abortion access. Governor Kathy Hochul also signed bills protecting abortion rights, and is requiring SUNY and CUNY campuses to make abortion pills available to students.
Even before Roe vs. Wade was struck down, the state of NY had among the strongest pro-abortion rights. In 2020 it had among the highest abortion rates in the nation among females ages 15 to 44, boasting double the national rate of abortions, with 110,0360 pregnancies terminated or 28.18 per 1,000, as per a study by the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-choice group.
City Hall defended the contract to stockpile medical abortion pills, allowing women to terminate pregnancies. “Mayor Adams and the Health Department have made no secret of their commitment to reproductive rights,” the Health Department said in a statement. “With New York state’s abortion protections codified, our city launched into action in support of residents from other states whose freedom of choice was once again restricted after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling and doubled down on support for New Yorkers.”
