FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 07, 2018
Contact: Marisa Rodriguez, [email protected], 956-607-9952
National Institute for Reproductive Health Action Fund Celebrates Victories for Scores of Endorsed Candidates – Creating an Historic Fully Pro-Choice State Government
New York, NY – Last night, New York voters flipped the State Senate to an historic pro-choice majority, and voted overwhelmingly for National Institute for Reproductive Health Action Fund PAC-endorsed candidates – sending a strong message that reproductive rights and access to reproductive healthcare, including abortion, is a top priority. The NIRH Action Fund PAC celebrates the election of endorsed candidates, including all state-wide elected officials (Governor Andrew Cuomo, Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, Attorney General-Elect Letitia James, Comptroller Tom DiNapoli), and 13 new pro-choice state Senators, who join their new State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and the strongly pro-choice Assembly to usher in a new era of progressive legislation in New York State. The NIRH Action Fund applauds victories for our many endorsed candidates for U.S. House of Representatives – particularly Representative-elect Antonio Delgado, whose victory is a critical part of the wave of seats that flipped to create a majority in that federal chamber that supports reproductive health.
“With a unified pro-choice majority in the State Senate to partner with our long-standing champions in the Assembly and executive branch, New York State is finally poised to become the beacon of reproductive freedom the country needs in the wake of Justice Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court.,” said Andrea Miller, President of the National Institute for Reproductive Health Action Fund and PAC. “New York State’s elected leaders now have a mandate to make passage of the Reproductive Health Act (RHA) their top priority to ensure that the Empire State finally guarantees the right and ability of women to control their reproductive lives and enshrine abortion rights and access into our state laws. We have been working long and hard to get to this day, and the NIRH Action Fund remains committed to our partnership with the many champions we have in Albany and resolute in our call for passage of the RHA as a first order of business for the next session.”
Passing the Reproductive Health Act would repeal the states’s outdated, pre-Roe v. Wade criminal abortion law, moving regulation of this care from the penal code to the public health code, and ensuring that New York State protects a woman’s reproductive decisions, including ensuring that all licensed medical professionals operating within their scope of practice are able to provide abortion care and securing access to abortion later in pregnancy if a woman’s health is at risk.
NIRH Action Fund PAC is especially excited to welcome State Senators-elect James Gaughran, Andrew Gournardes, Pete Harckham, Anna Kaplan, Monica Martinez, Jen Metzger, and James Skoufis, who all campaigned in the general election on a promise that they would vote for the Reproductive Health Act and make it an early priority of the 2019 legislative session. In October, Governor Cuomo vowed to codify Roe v. Wade within the first 30 days of his next administration. And the New York State Assembly has repeatedly passed the RHA, and will return to Albany again with a decisive majority that supports reproductive freedom.
NIRH Action Fund looks forward to continue our strong, long-standing partnership of working with our elected leaders in Albany to ensure all New Yorkers have access to abortion and the full spectrum of reproductive care they need and deserve.
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The NIRH Action Fund engages in non-partisan issue advocacy and electoral engagement to advance reproductive health, rights, and justice in states and cities across the country. The NIRH Action Fund PAC makes endorsements in New York State to advance reproductive health, rights, and justice across the state.
Endorsed Candidates – NIRH Action Fund PAC:
*incumbent
SD 3 Monica Martinez
SD 5 James Gaughran
SD 7 Anna Kaplan
SD 8 John E. Brooks*
SD 9 Todd Kaminsky*
SD 11 John Liu
SD 12 Michael Gianaris*
SD 13 Jessica Ramos
SD 14 Leroy Comrie*
SD 16 Toby Ann Stavisky*
SD 19 Roxanne Persaud*
SD 20 Zellnor Myrie
SD 21 Kevin Parker*
SD 22 Andrew S. Gounardes
SD 25 Velmanette Montgomery*
SD 27 Brad M. Hoylman*
SD 28 Liz Krueger*
SD 29 Jose M. Serrano*
SD 31 Robert Jackson
SD 32 Luis Sepulveda*
SD 33 J. Gustavo Rivera*
SD 34 Alessandra Biaggi
SD 35 Andrea Stewart-Cousins*
SD 37 Shelley Mayer*
SD 39 James G. Skoufis
SD 40 Peter Harckham
SD 42 Jen Metzger
SD 44 Neil Breslin*
SD 53 Rachel May
SD 63 Timothy M. Kennedy*
Endorsed Candidates – NIRH Action Fund:
*incumbent
US Senate Kirsten Gillibrand*
CD 4 Kathleen Rice*
CD 5 Gregory Meeks*
CD 6 Grace Meng*
CD 7 Nydia Velazquez*
CD 8 Hakeem Jeffries*
CD 9 Yvette Clarke*
CD 10 Jerrold Nadler*
CD 12 Carolyn Maloney*
CD 13 Adriano Espaillat*
CD 14 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
CD 15 Jose Serrano*
CD 16 Elliot Engel*
CD 17 Nita Lowey*
CD 18 Sean Patrick Maloney*
CD 19 Antonio Delgado
CD 20 Paul Tonko*
CD 25 Joe Morelle
CD 26 Brian Higgins*