On Tuesday, New York City became the first public health system in America to offer abortion care via telehealth. The seven-day-a-week offering will allow New York City residents to access medication abortion by phone or video up to 10 weeks of pregnancy.
Though New York Mayor Eric Adams is a clown who wants to add more cops to public transit and truly can’t seem to shut up, it’s admirable to see yet another initiative to help expand reproductive rights enacted under his administration. Previously, Adams signed legislation to protect abortion access in the city, including making medication abortion free at city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene clinics as well as banning city agencies from using resources to cooperate with out-of-state investigations seeking to detain people who performed, aided, or abetted abortions, among other laws.
“Here in New York City, we will not allow the far right to continue its crusade to strip women of their reproductive rights,” Adams told reporters. “Last year, an activist Supreme Court undermined almost 50 years of settled law by overturning Roe v. Wade, but New Yorkers know that access to safe, legal abortion care is the cornerstone of public health, and we will not stand idly by as these attacks on women continue.” The service, Virtual ExpressCare, is offered from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and patients must “attest” that they’re in NYC and will take the medication while in the city or receive the meds at a NYC address.
Though low-income people in the state suffer from some of the same problems as people in less accessible areas do, such as needing time off and lack of transportation, abortion laws are very permissible in New York.
In New York, abortion is banned at viability, around 24 to 26 weeks of pregnancy, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Though low-income people in the state suffer from some of the same problems as people in less accessible areas do, such as needing time off and lack of transportation, state Medicaid can cover abortion costs and private health insurance plans cover abortion. Earlier this year, New York City spent more than $138,000 to advertise its pro-abortion services to potential patients via billboards in Georgia, Texas, and Florida.
Medication abortion, which is typically made up of mifepristone and misoprostol, is currently being attacked at the federal level. And it’s likely that the Supreme Court will take up a case hoping to revoke the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone during their current term. If they do, a decision will come down in the middle of the 2024 presidential campaign. Depending on how the court rules, it could throw New York abortion laws into chaos, or the laws could ensure New York remains one of the few places to continue to get abortion pills.
Even if the Supreme Court punts the case for some reason, Republican legislatures won’t let medication abortion go. Last week, Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) introduced a bill to ban medication abortion entirely (on International Safe Abortion Day, no less!).
Medication abortion is incredibly safe; safer than other low-risk drugs like penicillin. It’s great to see NYC put that belief into action and expand abortion access further.