O’Mara votes against ‘extreme action’ expanding abortion in New York State: Says Reproductive Health Act goes far beyond codifying Roe v. Wade

Albany, N.Y., January 22—State Senator Tom O’Mara (R,C,I-Big Flats) has voted against legislation known as the “Reproductive Health Act” (RHA) being approved today by the Senate and Assembly, and expected to be swiftly signed into law by Governor Andrew Cuomo.

O’Mara said, “Far from simply codifying the federal protections afforded to all women under Roe versus Wade, this new law is an extreme action by Governor Cuomo and a State Legislature now under one-party Democratic control.  It continues to impose on all New Yorkers a radical left, liberal political agenda by significantly expanding abortion, legalizing abortion right up until a baby’s birth, authorizing non-doctors to perform abortions, and even outlawing current protections afforded to the pregnant victims of domestic violence.  It is a disturbing, extreme, radical action that I strongly oppose along with many of my constituents and many, many New Yorkers.”

Earlier today, O’Mara joined his Senate Republican colleagues at a Capitol news conference to protest one specific provision of the RHA that eliminates criminal penalties for criminals who commit domestic violence against pregnant women, and to announce the introduction of legislation restoring the penalties.

Livia Abreu, an army veteran from the Bronx who was stabbed repeatedly by her fiancé during a domestic violence attack in May 2018, an attack that critically injured Abreu and killed her 26-week-old fetus, joined O’Mara and the Senate GOP. 

The Senate GOP’s proposed “Liv Act,” named after Abreu, which O’Mara will co-sponsor, would establish the crime of assault on a pregnant woman by expressly recognizing that violence against pregnant women is a felony.  Passage of this legislation would ensure that there would still be a criminal statute in New York that recognizes that violence done to a pregnant woman puts her reproductive freedom at stake.

Thirty-eight states currently have laws holding perpetrators accountable for violent attacks against pregnant women that result in the loss of their babies, including California and Massachusetts.  Another eight states, including Colorado, enhance existing criminal penalties for crimes committed against pregnant women.