New York maintains some of the least restrictive abortion laws in the United States, but so do the five states that border it.
Lawmakers in the 50 states have been charged with establishing abortion regulations since the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973 gave women nationwide the right to an abortion. New York legislators have revised the Empire State’s abortion laws in a manner that left it ranked as the nation’s 10th best state for reproductive rights in 2015
by NARAL Pro-Choice America.
NARAL said states bordering New York all rank among the top third nationwide in terms of reproductive rights. NARAL listed Connecticut as third nationally in terms of having the most reasonable reproductive rights laws while putting Vermont at eighth, New Jersey ninth, and Massachusetts 15th.
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Anti-abortion activists agree New York and its neighbors maintain some of the nation’s least restrictive abortion laws.
Americans United for Life listed New York as the nation’s seventh least protective state of life in terms of its anti-abortion legislation.
Among New York’s neighbors, the report named Vermont as second least protective, New Jersey as fifth least, Connecticut as 10th least, and Massachusetts as 13th least.
The Guttmacher Institute noted these differences in abortion laws between New York and its bordering states. New York, Vermont, Connecticut, and New Jersey require no waiting periods, restrictions on publicly financed abortions, or parental notification or consent for a minor to have an abortion. But Massachusetts requires at least one parent to be informed and give consent.
Partial birth abortions remain legal in New York and all four of its bordering states. But they're only legal in New Jersey because a law legislators passed banning them in that state was “permanently enjoined by court order,” the Guttmacher Institute reported.
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