“I am absolutely horrified by what the majority of Supreme Court of the United States plans to do to women’s rights in this country,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said Tuesday.
“As a woman this is personal. This is something that we have fought against for me entire lives. This was a battle for my mother’s generation, a battle my generation, my daughter’s generation and, it seems like even my three-day old grandchild Sophia’s generation will have to be fighting this same fight. Something we thought we had put to bed a long time ago,” Hochul said at a press conference. “I refuse to go backwards, and that is exactly the specter we are looking at.”
The presser was called to announce Hochul’s new Lieutenant Governor, Rep Albert Delgado. “This is not how I wanted to begin this press conference but the news was so compelling it was impossible to ignore and impossible to be silent. We will not be silent in the state of New York.”
“My promise is that in the State of New York, we will not stand idly by. Anyone who needs care, we welcome you with open arms.” New York legalized abortion three years before Roe V Wade did in 1973. “We believe that access to reproductive health is a human right.”
According to a draft decision leaked to Politico, a majority of justices of the highest court in the land will vote to overturn 50 years of established precedent, striking down the federal right for a woman to choose to end a pregnancy and returning the decision to individual states.
A number of states led by Texas have already made access to abortion virtually impossible in anticipation of the Supreme Court decision, which is expected in June.
Hochul said New York is actively exploring initiatives and legislative action to protect rights in the state but wasn’t specific. “Let me be clear. We are not playing defense, we are playing offense.”
