Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday that he is directing New York state’s Department of Financial Services to mandate health insurers to provide free coverage for contraception and "medically necessary" abortions,” USA Today reports.
"These regulatory actions will help ensure that whatever happens at the federal level, women in our state will have cost-free access to reproductive health care and we hope these actions serve as a model for equality across the nation," Cuomo, a Democrat, said in a statement.
"Women deserve to make a fair wage and the same salary as any man, they deserve to work in an office free of sexual harassment, they deserve comprehensive paid family leave, and they deserve control over their health and reproductive decisions."
President Donald Trump and a Republican Congress have already made changes to eliminate Obamacare but have not offered a replacement. Whatever the outcome, Cuomo said women in New York will continue to have "cost-free access to reproductive health care, and we hope these actions serve as a model for equality across the nation."
Trump has promised to defund Planned Parenthood and has also pushed for a federal law to ban abortions after 20 weeks gestation.
The changes will require FDA-approved contraception exceeding one month’s supply at a time, as well as make all medically necessary abortion services "covered by commercial health insurance policies without co-pays, coinsurance, or deductibles."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.