The state of New York has recently passed the Reproductive Health Act, which protects a woman's right to an abortion, even in the event that Roe V. Wade is overturned. Many people are enraged as a result of this law passing. I have seen posts circulating the internet stating that this law allows women to have an abortion at any point during their pregnancy for any reason. This is claim is completely false and being used as a tactic to villainize women that decide to have an abortion.
New York's Reproductive Health Act has determined that an abortion can be performed after 24 weeks if the life of the mother is at risk or if the fetus is not viable. Nowhere in the law does it state that a woman can have a late-term abortion just on a whim. Conservatives have been trying to convince the public that this law now allows a woman to have an abortion up to birth if that is what she wants. This notion is ridiculous because by the time that the birth is right around the corner, the mother would not think, "Actually, I don't feel like having a baby anymore. I want an abortion." She has clearly chosen to have a baby by carrying it for so long. There would be no reason for her to want an abortion unless it was to save her own life or if the fetus had no chance of living upon birth.
Pro-life advocates are constantly trying to figure out ways of how to paint the pro-choice movement as being evil and the reaction to New York's abortion law is just another instance of this. How is it evil to want to give a woman the option to save herself if carrying to term would kill her? It is not a decision that she would make lightly, despite what pro-life advocates think. It is devastating for the mother if she does decide to have the abortion. Once a woman reaches her third trimester, she is not questioning whether or not she wants the baby. It is obvious that she wants the baby. Having to do a late-term abortion is a mother's worst nightmare and not something she happily decides to do.
Abortions in general, late-term or not, are a decision that women carefully consider and go through with if it is the best choice for them. It is not a shameful decision to come to, despite what men say, because it is just one of the options available to a woman for her reproductive health. Men that try to restrict a woman's access to abortion are especially frustrating for me to see because abortions are something they will never have to personally face. Yes, their girlfriend may decide to get an abortion, but the abortion will be happening to her and not them. The boyfriend can give his opinion, but ultimately, the woman has the final say because it is her body that will be affected by the pregnancy.
A huge problem that I have with pro-life advocates is that they are adamant about saving the life of the fetus, yet the vast majority of them also support Conservative beliefs that endanger the lives of many people. If the child that was born from an abortion they prevented a woman from having was born gay, Black, Latinx, disabled, transgender, or a part of any other marginalized group, their life will be negatively impacted by the same exact people that supposedly "saved" them. It should be everyone's priority to make sure that children that have been already been born are not having their rights stripped from them. It is hypocritical to claim that you are "pro-life" when you truly do not care about the lives of people that are different from yourself.
