BILL NUMBER: S8713
SPONSOR: HINCHEY
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to certain crimes of inter-
ference with health care services or religious worship
 
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this bill is to amend the Clinic Access Act to include a
greater range of reproductive health care services protected under the
legislation and to increase sentencing requirements for individuals who
interfere with providers, patients, or helpers from engaging in legally
protected health activity.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends section 240.70 of the penal law as follows:
Subdivision 1 of section 240.70 of the penal law is amended by replacing
reproductive health services with legally protected health care activity
and including the location from which a provider or facilitator of tele-
medicine abortion works in the definition of covered spaces.
Paragraph (e) of subdivision 3 of section 240.70 of the penal law is
amended to provide a broader definition of reproductive health services.
Paragraph (f)(i)-(ii) of subdivision 3 of section 240.70 of the penal
law is added to define legally protected health care activity. This
defines the acts, omissions, or attempts that qualify as a legally
protected health care activity and any act, omission, or attempt under-
taken to aid or encourage any person in the exercise of rights to repro-
ductive health services.
Amends the penalty for criminal interference with health care services
or religious worship in the second degree from a class A misdemeanor to
a class E felony.
Section 2 amends section 240.71 of the penal law to increase the penalty
for criminal interference with health care services or religious worship
in the first degree from a class E felony to a class D felony.
Section 3 amends section 240.72 of the penal law to increase the penalty
for aggravated interference with health care services in the second
degree from a class E felony to a class D felony.
Section 4 states that this act shall take effect on the sixtieth day
after it shall have become a law.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Ensuring safe access to reproductive health care facilities and their
providers is critical to securing reproductive freedom. Meaningful
access requires that patients, providers, and helpers can engage in
reproductive health services free from harassment or intimidation. This
principle is all the more important as reproductive care increasingly
extends beyond the physical clinic to telehealth and telemedicine, where
protections must keep pace with modern forms of care. As the federal
government attempts to restrict reproductive freedoms, it has become
increasingly important for New York to secure the rights of those seek-
ing reproductive care in response:
This bill would amend the Clinic Access Act to strengthen protections
for providers, patients, and helpers by covering legally protected
reproductive health activities not only while they are providing,
receiving, or facilitating care, but also when they are attempting to do
so or have done so in the past. In addition, the updated definition of
reproductive health services explicitly incorporates telehealth and
telemedicine provisions of care, while maintaining the requirement that
providers be licensed physicians present in New York State. This bill
also enhances the sentencing requirements for violations of the Clinic
Access Act, strengthening deterrence against those who might seek to
interfere with the provision of reproductive health set-vices.
Passage of this bill is essential to secure the reproductive freedoms
critical to the health, dignity, and equality of individuals across New
York.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have
become a law.

Statutes affected:
S8713: 240.70 penal law, 240.71 penal law, 240.72 penal law