President Trump Uses State of the Union to Attack Women
Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic Vows to Fight for All New Yorkers

Last night President Trump used his State of the Union to promote nationwide restrictions on reproductive health care that would leave individuals without access to safe and legal abortion. While President Trump lauded the record number of women in the workforce and serving in Congress, he ignored the reality that the ability of women to succeed is directly tied to their ability to control their own bodies.

Speaking of New York State’s Reproductive Health Act (RHA), which secured the same federal protection of Roe v. Wade into state law, President Trump flat-out lied, in a shocking attempt to demonize abortion care later in pregnancy and create controversy where absolutely none should exist. Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic calls out President Trump for repeating the false extremist ideology created about the RHA as a smokescreen to outlaw health care, demean medical providers, and stigmatize individuals for seeking abortion care later in pregnancy.

Statement from Vincent Russell, President & CEO, Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic:

“The comments from President Trump were extremely misleading and disappointing. We will not apologize for protecting the rights of individuals to make the best decisions for themselves with their health care providers or enshrining the same protections as Roe v. Wade into New York State law. PPHP trusts our patients to make their own health care decisions. Our lawmakers should do the same. Our job as health care providers is to ensure that our patients have the information they need to make the best decisions for themselves. Reducing access to reproductive health care does not protect individuals but instead puts their health and lives at risk.”

History:

New York State legalized abortion back in 1970, three years before the U.S. Supreme Court did so nationally through Roe v. Wade, and New Yorkers consistently supported abortion access in the succeeding years. However, the state failed to update its abortion law, leaving providers and women without full protection. New York advocates lobbied for over a decade to mirror Roe in state law only to hit a conservative roadblock in the State Senate. On January 22, 2019, this long-overdue legislation finally passed both houses.

The RHA accomplished three important things:

• Recognized that abortion is health care, not a crime, by moving the regulation of abortion care into the public health law where it belongs.
• Brought the protections of Roe into state law by ensuring that New Yorkers can access needed care throughout pregnancy when their health or life is endangered, or their pregnancy is not viable.
• Clarified that trained health care providers acting within their scope of practice can provide abortion care. This ensures that more New Yorkers have access to early and safe abortion care.

Abortion Facts:

One in 4 women will have an abortion by age 45 https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/induced-abortion-united-states

A first-trimester abortion is one of the safest medical procedures and carries minimal risk: Major complications (those requiring hospital care, surgery or transfusion) occur at a rate of less than 0.5% https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/induced-abortion-united-states

Two-thirds of abortions occur by eight weeks of pregnancy; 89% occur in the first 12 weeks, 2013 https://www.guttmacher.org/sites/default/files/factsheet/fb_induced_abortion.pdf

Nearly half (45%) of all pregnancies among U.S. women in 2011 were unintended, and about four in 10 of these were terminated by abortion. Nineteen percent of pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) in 2014 ended were unintended, and about four in 10 of these were terminated by abortion.

https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/induced-abortion-united-states