Some lawmakers worry overturning Roe v. Wade will lead to loss of privacy rights
If the leaked draft decision from the Supreme Court stands, the constitutional right to an abortion will end. But, many worry its only the tipping point to a rollback of protections that have come through the Supreme Court.
Leslie Silva is a partner with Tully Rinckey, PLLC who says "that could potentially create a slippery slope, in that in any case that uses the 14th amendment due-process clause to establish or protect a right to privacy could essentially be reversed."
"We're talking about areas like marriage, intimate relations, we're talking about contraception," Silva continued.
Senator Rachel May (D) is on the Senate Health Committee and represents people in Onondaga, Oneida and Madison Counties, and says " I am determined to make sure that New York is a haven where other states are turning people away." Senator May added "there is a bill that we're developing in the Senate that would be not just affirming the right to personal autonomy over pregnancy issues, but privacy in general." May says the hope is to get the bill passed before June when the legislative session ends. "I do think that privacy is fundamental, to many of our rights, and this is just the tip of the iceberg," she explained.
Meanwhile, New York's Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie are pushing for choice to be codified into law.
