New York Abortion Rights: Now Protected in the State Constitution

Abortion is legal in New York through 24 weeks of pregnancy, and after that when the fetus is not viable or when the abortion is needed to protect the patient’s life or health. That rule is in Public Health Law § 2599-bb. Voters added a constitutional layer on November 5, 2024, and since January 1, 2025, Article I, § 11 of the state constitution has barred discrimination based on pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy.

The amendment did not change the 24-week line. It sits on top of the statute, and the details of who can provide care, who pays, and what out-of-state officials can do come from other laws covered below.

When Is Abortion Legal in New York?

Section 2599-bb allows a licensed practitioner, acting within their scope of practice, to perform an abortion in three situations. The practitioner decides using “reasonable and good faith professional judgment” based on the patient’s case.

Situation	What the law allows	Who decides
Within 24 weeks of the commencement of pregnancy	Abortion, with no reason required	You and your provider
Any point, when the fetus is not viable	Abortion	The practitioner
Any point, when your life or health is at risk	Abortion	The practitioner

How the 24 weeks are counted

The Department of Health’s abortion services page says the “commencement of pregnancy” is the beginning of implantation, not the first day of your last period. Because the starting point differs from the way many people date a pregnancy, a provider works out the exact date for you.

Does “health” include mental health?

Yes. The Attorney General’s guidance says that after 24 weeks, abortion is allowed if the fetus is not viable or your life, physical health, or mental health is at risk. The statute itself says only “life or health,” and the office’s reading is that health covers both.

Who can perform an abortion?

Any practitioner licensed under Title 8 of the Education Law, within their scope of practice. That is why nurse practitioners, physician assistants and licensed midwives can provide care in New York, not only physicians.

What the Reproductive Health Act Did in 2019

The Reproductive Health Act, signed in January 2019, created Article 25-A of the Public Health Law and moved abortion out of the criminal code. Before it, Penal Law §§ 125.40 and 125.45 defined abortion in the second and first degree as crimes inside the homicide article. The act repealed both and repealed Public Health Law § 4164 and Education Law § 6811(8), which had also tied abortion to the penal framework.

New York had decriminalized abortion earlier, in 1970, three years before Roe v. Wade. The 2019 act is what wrote the right into the state’s own statutes so it would not depend on federal law. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe in 2022, New York’s rule did not change.

What Proposition 1 Changed, and What It Did Not

Proposition 1, the Equal Rights Amendment, rewrote Article I, § 11 of the state constitution. The new text bars discrimination in civil rights because of “ethnicity, national origin, age, disability” and sex, a category the amendment defines to include “pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy.” It also lists sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.

The word “abortion” does not appear. How far the amendment reaches in a future abortion case will be decided by courts, not by the text alone. Repealing it would take two successive legislatures and a majority vote of the public, which is a much higher bar than repealing a statute.

Paragraph b of the section adds that the amendment does not block laws or programs designed to prevent or dismantle discrimination, and that no listed characteristic can be read to limit the civil rights of people in another listed category.

The New York State Capitol building in Albany on a clear autumn morning

Can a Minor Get an Abortion Without Parental Consent?

Yes. The Attorney General’s guidance states that a minor in New York does not need a parent’s permission for birth control, abortion, prenatal care or other reproductive health services. Providers generally cannot share information about that care with parents, guardians or partners without the patient’s permission.

Does Insurance Cover Abortion in New York?

Medicaid and all state-regulated private plans must cover abortion. Any state-regulated plan that offers maternity coverage has to cover abortion without cost-sharing, meaning no deductible, copay or coinsurance. That requirement took effect January 1, 2023, under amendments to Insurance Law §§ 3216, 3221 and 4303.

Three limits on the coverage rule

First, religious employers. Under Insurance Law §§ 3221(l)(16) and 4303(cc), an insurer can exclude abortion from a religious employer’s plan only if it gets an annual certification from the employer and issues each covered employee a rider that provides the coverage at no premium. The Department of Financial Services publishes the model abortion rider insurers use.

Second, plan type. The mandate reaches plans regulated by the state. If your employer pays claims itself (a self-funded plan), ask HR or your plan administrator whether the plan is fully insured, because that answer decides whether the state rule applies.

Third, travel. The Department of Health notes that New York’s coverage rules apply to policies purchased in New York. If you are coming from a state that restricts abortion, a plan bought there may not cover care here.

Medicaid and immigration status

Medicaid pays for pregnancy-related care, including abortion. NYC Health says pregnant New Yorkers can qualify at higher income levels and regardless of immigration status, and the Department of Health says abortion care is available regardless of age, gender identity, immigration and insurance status. To enroll, use NY State of Health at 1-855-355-5777.

Flowchart showing abortion coverage for fully insured New York plans, self-funded employer plans, and Medicaid

Medication Abortion and Telehealth

Medication abortion uses mifepristone, followed one to two days later by four misoprostol pills. The Department of Health says it is offered up to 11 weeks after the first day of the last menstrual period, and you can get the pills at a doctor’s office, a clinic, or by mail after a telehealth visit. The FDA label is narrower, covering use through 10 weeks, so a provider will tell you which limit applies to your care. If you are comparing how medication abortion is handled elsewhere, see our overview of Rhode Island abortion laws.

The federal fight over mifepristone

Federal rules on mifepristone are being litigated in Louisiana v. FDA. On May 1, 2026, the Fifth Circuit stayed the FDA’s 2023 rule that allows telehealth prescribing and mail or pharmacy dispensing, which would have restored an in-person requirement. The U.S. Supreme Court stayed that order on May 14, 2026, so telehealth prescribing and mail dispensing stay in place while the case continues.

The FDA began its own safety review of mifepristone in September 2025. In a status report filed October 7, 2026, it told the district court it expects study results by mid-December 2026 and will finish no later than March 2027. If federal rules change, in-clinic abortion and in-person medication abortion remain available under New York law. Rules for abortion pills and telehealth also differ by state, as our guide to Connecticut abortion laws explains.

Bar chart comparing the FDA label limit of 10 weeks with the New York Department of Health's 11 weeks for medication abortion

New York’s Shield Law and the Fights With Louisiana and Texas

New York’s Shield Law bars state and local officials from helping other states investigate or punish reproductive health care that was lawful where it was provided in New York. It covers telehealth to patients in other states as long as the provider was physically in New York. The core rules are in Criminal Procedure Law § 570.17, Executive Law § 837-x, CPLR 3119, and Civil Rights Law § 70-b, summarized in the Attorney General’s Shield Law guidance.

The Louisiana indictment

In January 2025, a Louisiana grand jury indicted Dr. Margaret Carpenter of New Paltz for prescribing abortion pills by telehealth to a pregnant minor in that state. On February 13, 2025, Governor Hochul announced she would not sign Louisiana’s extradition request. Under New York’s law, extradition must be denied unless the other state alleges in writing that the person was physically present there when the offense occurred and fled, and Louisiana did not claim that.

The Texas judgment and the court ruling

A Texas court entered a $113,000 default judgment against Carpenter in February 2025. When Texas tried to file it in Ulster County, the acting county clerk refused, in March and again in July. On October 31, 2025, Justice David Gandin dismissed Texas’s petition in Texas v. Bruck, holding that Carpenter’s care was “legally protected health activity” under Executive Law § 837-x. He did not decide Texas’s claim that the Shield Law violates the Full Faith and Credit Clause, so that constitutional question is open.

What the law now requires: Shield Law 2.0

Governor Hochul signed a major amendment (A.5480-C/S.4914-B) on December 19, 2025. Under the amended law, anyone seeking a subpoena tied to protected health activity has to attach a sworn affirmation that it is not meant to penalize that care, and a false affirmation can be prosecuted. Any person or business in New York that receives such a request must notify the Attorney General’s office before responding, using the Shield Law reporting form. The amendment also extends protection to gender-affirming care and keeps a provider’s license safe from discipline based solely on protected care.

The same month, the governor vetoed the New York Health Information Privacy Act, a bill that would have limited the sale of health data. The existing protection for health data in General Business Law § 394-h covers what law enforcement can buy, not what private companies can sell.

Provider privacy and Texas HB 7

Two 2025 laws let a prescriber ask the pharmacy to print the practice’s name, not the prescriber’s, on the label for mifepristone and misoprostol. Governor Hochul signed S.36-A/A.2145-A on February 3, 2025, and S.4587/A.5285 on March 22, 2025, which requires pharmacies to honor the request. Texas HB 7, effective December 4, 2025, lets private citizens sue anyone who mails or provides abortion pills into Texas for at least $100,000, and it was written to get around shield laws.

The Supreme Court filing

On September 30, 2026, Louisiana, Alabama and Arkansas asked the U.S. Supreme Court for permission to file an original action against New York, California and Massachusetts to invalidate their shield laws. Before reaching the merits, the Court must decide whether to hear the case at all. New York Attorney General Letitia James has said she will defend the law.

Map of the United States with arrows toward New York marking key dates in the shield law disputes with Louisiana and Texas

Emergency Abortion Care in New York Hospitals

The state budget signed May 9, 2025 wrote the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act into New York law. The Governor’s announcement says it specifies that abortion is protected emergency care when necessary to protect the life and safety of a pregnant person, so hospitals have to provide it regardless of any change to federal EMTALA. The same budget set aside $20 million for flexible funding to cover the cost of abortion care, $4 million for training programs, and $5 million to modernize facilities and protect providers from violence and harassment.

How to Find a Provider and Get Help Paying

The Department of Health keeps a provider directory and a page of cost options on its abortion services site. The Reproductive Freedom and Equity Grant Program in Public Health Law § 2599-bb-1 funds providers and nonprofits, including uncompensated care and support such as travel.

Resource	What it does	How to reach it
NYC Abortion Access Hub	Connects you to providers and financial help, with no age, residency or immigration requirement	1-877-692-2482
Attorney General abortion hotline	Answers questions about your rights	212-899-5567
Attorney General consumer line	Takes complaints about fake clinics or unwanted targeted ads	1-800-771-7755
NY State of Health	Medicaid and plan enrollment	1-855-355-5777
The Doula Project	Text-based support during a medication abortion	Text 1-844-518-1672

Privacy, Fake Clinics and Targeted Ads

Providers generally cannot share records about abortion, birth control or STI care with your partner, parents, guardians or employer without your permission. Your employer cannot access personal information about your reproductive health decisions or discriminate against you for them.

Crisis pregnancy centers, which the Attorney General also calls limited-service pregnancy centers, often sit near real clinics and advertise to people who are “pregnant, scared, and need help.” They do not offer abortion. Some claim medication abortion can be “reversed,” a treatment the Attorney General says no major medical association has accepted and the FDA has not approved. Ask whether abortion services are available before sharing personal information, and leave if the answer is vague.

It is also illegal for an advertiser to target you with digital ads based on your proximity to a health care facility within 1,850 feet, unless the facility itself is doing the advertising. File a complaint with the Attorney General’s office if you receive unwanted reproductive health ads near a clinic.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I get an abortion in New York if I live in another state?

Yes. The Department of Health says abortion care is available to New Yorkers and to people coming from outside the state, with no residency requirement. Check whether your insurance will cover it, since New York’s coverage mandate applies only to policies purchased here.

Did Proposition 1 change how late an abortion can be performed?

No. The 24-week rule and the exceptions for non-viability and for life or health risks remain in Public Health Law § 2599-bb. Proposition 1 added anti-discrimination protections to Article I, § 11 of the constitution.

Do I need a parent’s permission if I am under 18?

No. A minor in New York can consent to abortion, birth control and prenatal care on their own. Providers generally cannot tell a parent without the minor’s permission.

Does Medicaid cover abortion in New York?

Yes. New York requires Medicaid to cover abortion, and NYC Health says pregnant non-citizens who live in the state and meet income rules can qualify regardless of immigration status.

Can I still get abortion pills by telehealth in New York?

Yes. A U.S. Supreme Court order issued May 14, 2026 keeps telehealth prescribing and mail dispensing in place while Louisiana v. FDA continues, and the FDA says its review will finish no later than March 2027.

Is there a criminal penalty for having an abortion in New York?

No. The Reproductive Health Act repealed Penal Law §§ 125.40 and 125.45, and Public Health Law § 2599-bb governs abortion as a medical procedure.