Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D., N.Y.) announced he would expand abortion rights in New York during an event with Hillary Clinton at Barnard College on Monday.
The New York governor said he would expand the state's abortion laws at the start of the new legislative session, the New York Times reports.
Cuomo's comments come after Democrats took control of the state legislature in November's midterm elections. New York's abortion laws have not been revised since 1970, prior to the Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade decision, according to the Times.
"They do not include some provisions that Roe v. Wade guaranteed," the Times reports, "including permission for a late-term abortion to preserve the health of the mother. Other states allow abortions late in the pregnancy when the fetus is not viable, an exception that New York does not make."
Democrats in the state legislature are pushing a bill called the Reproductive Health Act, which would add exceptions for the mother's health and the viability of the fetus. Abortion regulations would also be transferred from the penal code to the health code, "recognizing abortion as a public health issue rather than a crime from which the state had carved out exclusions."
A related bill mandates insurers provide free contraceptive coverage.
"[Justice Brett] Kavanaugh is going to reverse Roe v. Wade," Cuomo said. "I have no doubt. [Justice Neil] Gorsuch is going to reverse Roe v. Wade. I have no doubt. So what do we do? Protect ourselves. Pass a state law that is a prophylactic from the federal action."
Cuomo said he would not sign the state's budget until both acts passed the legislature. He also asked the legislature to protect abortion rights in the state's constitution, a move that would require approving an amendment in two different legislative sessions and by ballot measure.
The presidents of two pro-life organizations condemned Cuomo's promise to expand abortion rights in statements given to the Washington Free Beacon.
"Governor Cuomo and the Democratic Party have decided that abortion, the killing of unborn children, should be allowed for any reason during all nine months of pregnancy, and that taxpayers should pay for it. That position is so out of step with the majority of Americans that Cuomo and his pro-abortion cohorts should rethink their heartless, unconscionable efforts for the good of the babies and the future of the Democratic party," said Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee.
The president of the Susan B. Anthony List said Cuomo is pushing for an "even more radical expansion of abortion" in New York.
"New York already has some of the nation’s most permissive abortion laws and highest abortion rates. An estimated one in four pregnancies in New York end in abortion," Marjorie Dannenfelser said. "That Governor Cuomo would team up with abortion extremist Hillary Clinton to announce his push for an even more radical expansion of abortion in his state speaks volumes about the misguided priorities of pro-abortion Democratic Party leaders and ought to outrage every sensible New Yorker."