Statements by Laura McQuade present a very inaccurate picture of the position of Planned Parenthood of Greater New York in our state. The statement “we know that access to abortion is on the line like never before” is not true.
Governor Cuomo and the Democratic leadership in the NYS Legislature enacted the Reproductive Health Act in 2019. This act allows abortions for any reason in the third trimester of pregnancy, right up to the mother’s due date. It removes protections for an infant accidentally born alive during an abortion and it removes criminal penalties for abortion, even it was contrary to the mother’s choice (e.g., the result of an act of violence).
Even the numbers reported by Planned Parenthood in its 2017-2018 Annual Report do not support this statement. Planned Parenthood performed more than 330,000 abortions, an increase in number compared to all the previous years for which PP provided data.
In NYS, the abortion rate is more than twice the national rate.
McQuade describes PP as providing “access to a full range of family planning services.”
While the number of abortions provided by PP increased in 2017-2018, there was a decrease in provision of other women’s health services. The numbers show that it is not access to abortion that is on the line, but women’s access to other reproductive health care services.
What we should not stand for – not now, not ever - is allowing abortion to become a forced-choice for mothers facing unplanned pregnancies. The millions of dollars that Planned Parenthood receives in taxpayer funding should be redirected to health care organizations that actually serve women. In Orange County, these include MyChoice Pregnancy Care Center (mychoicepcc.com) in Middletown and in New Windsor, the Tri-State Pregnancy Center (tristatepregnancycenter.org) in Matamoras, Pa., and Faith House (faithhouseny.org), a maternity home that will be opening in Walden.
Anne L. Gross
Warwick