City Hall, November 18, 2008 \u2013 In a joint Civil Rights and Women\u2019s Issues Committee meeting, Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn and Women\u2019s Issues Committee Chair Helen Sears held a hearing on legislation to protect women\u2019s access to reproductive health care facilities. The Clinic Access Bill strengthens safeguards for women who are faced with harassment and other hostile acts as they enter and exit local reproductive health care clinics.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur city, the most diverse city in the world, is one of tolerance and respect \u2013 respect for our ideas, our choices, and our physical space,\u201d said Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn. \u201cNobody has the right to prevent a woman from taking care of her health. With the Clinic Access Bill, women can be confident in their personal and legal health care decisions – and know that no one will be allowed to stand in their way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe right of women to access safe, competent reproductive health care is an important one,\u201d said Women\u2019s Issues Committee Chair Helen Sears. \u201cThis bill will ensure this right against unlawful harassment and intimidation, and will guarantee that every woman can make the reproductive choices that are best for her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Together with a coalition of advocates and providers, Speaker Quinn introduced the Clinic Access Bill in September in response to occurrences of women being harassed and intimidated as they entered and exited reproductive health care clinics. Will the implementation of the bill, health clinic staff can have protestors arrested who willfully interfere with a clinic\u2019s operations. Additionally, this Clinic Access Bill will allow police to arrest protestors they see blocking clinic entrances and exits as well as parking lots and driveways, which is vital to health providers in outer boroughs. The Clinic Access Bill would not increase penalties over those in the existing law.<\/p>\n
Real-life examples of such harassment and coercion include:<\/p>\n
Patients being offered bottled water by protesters in order to forestall her abortion procedure, which endangers the life and well-being of women seeking pain-relief during the abortion procedure;
\nClinic directors being knocked to the ground by protesters and called \u201cbaby killer\u201d;
\nProtestors physically blocking patients, clinic staff, postal workers, and delivery workers from entering doors of clinics;
\nProtestors standing in front of the clinic door saying that there were no doctors inside and directing women down the block or around the corner and putting women into a cab to take them to a \u201creal\u201d clinic.<\/p>\n
Other documented occurrences outside of health clinics include:
\nProtestors using NYPD-owned barricades to hang posters and signs outside of the clinic;
\nProtestors offering free sonograms to patients but instead showing graphic anti-abortion propaganda;
\nProtestors shouting at patients that they were desecrating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thank Speaker Quinn and the City Council for sponsoring legislation that ensures women will receive the respect and dignity they deserve when seeking legal health care,\u201d said NARAL Pro-Choice NY President and CEO Kelli Conlin. \u201cBeing able to access healthcare without intimidation is common sense. Unfortunately \u2013 to the protestors who regularly band together to do those very things \u2013 it\u2019s not. And we need a law to stop them. NARAL Pro-Choice New York is proud to be working with our allies, the City Council and Mayor Bloomberg to pass that very law.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Clinic Access Bill is an important piece of legislation that would not only protect health care centers\u2019 right to operate, but ensure the physical and emotional safety of all those who walk through our doors,\u201d said President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of New York City Joan Malin. \u201cAs one of the leading providers of reproductive health care in New York City, we see the daily impact of anti-abortion extremists blocking our clients and staff\u2019s path. So while I will always agree that freedom of speech is one of the most important rights that we as Americans have, I balk at the idea that terrorizing innocent Americans is an equally protected right.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe that the Clinic Access Bill strikes the appropriate balance between free speech and the right to access reproductive health care,\u201d said Ami Sanghvi, a staff attorney with the New York Civil Liberties Union’s Reproductive Rights Project. \u201cIt is a welcome step forward in fulfilling the city’s mission to protect access to health care services, while respecting the diversity of views of all New Yorkers.\u201d <\/p>\n
Other groups who also testified at the hearing were: NYCLU, Dr. Emily Women\u2019s Health Center, Center for Reproductive Rights, National Abortion Federation Brooklyn Ambulatory Surgery Center, The Phillips Family Practice, and Choices Women\u2019s Medical Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
City Hall, November 18, 2008 \u2013 In a joint Civil Rights and Women\u2019s Issues Committee meeting, Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn and Women\u2019s Issues Committee Chair Helen Sears held a hearing on legislation to protect women\u2019s access to reproductive health care facilities. The Clinic Access Bill strengthens safeguards for women who are faced with harassment and other hostile acts as they enter and exit local reproductive health care clinics.<\/p>\n
…<\/p>\n