http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/08/nyregion/new-york-late-term-abortion-schneiderman.html 2016-09-08 03:39:51 New York Can’t Block Late-Term Abortion in Certain Cases, Schneiderman Says In a new legal opinion, Eric T. Schneiderman, the attorney general, gives hospitals and clinics in New York the legal grounding to perform late-term abortions in some cases. === Attorney General In a new legal opinion, Mr. Schneiderman said the 1970 state law, which criminalizes abortion past 24 weeks of pregnancy unless the mother’s life is endangered, did not square with the later Supreme Court decisions in Roe v. Wade and other cases. “New York law cannot criminalize what the federal Constitution protects, and thus the Penal Law should be interpreted to be consistent with the Constitution,” the opinion says. While the state law remains on the books, the opinion from Mr. Schneiderman, a Democrat, now gives hospitals and clinics the legal grounding to perform such abortions. Reproductive rights advocates say that no providers currently offer such procedures in New York, forcing doctors to send women who need late-term abortions out of the state — most often to Colorado, where they are legal. “Now we can feel comfortable that we’re not at all at risk of being prosecuted for taking care of pregnant women who are in an untenable situation, and hospitals don’t need to worry that they’re going to be caught in the middle,” said In cases where it was not clear whether state law would allow an abortion, he said, hospitals often had to convene ethics committees and take other steps — including waiting until the mother’s life, not only her health, was in danger — to provide “institutional cover to do what we thought was right all along,” Dr. Chasen said. “I think this opinion can prevent us from having to go through all those steps and just focus on the patient and do what’s obviously right.” The opinion comes three years after Senate Republicans Among the legislation’s most vocal opponents was the New York State Catholic Conference, whose spokesman said on Wednesday that Mr. Schneiderman’s move would invite late-term abortion providers to “set up shop” in the state. “The use of ‘life and health’ of the mother really means abortion on demand throughout all nine months of pregnancy,” the spokesman, Dennis Poust, said. Advocates vowed to continue to press for legislative action, noting that Mr. Schneiderman’s interpretation of the law, which came in response to a formal request for an opinion from the state comptroller’s office, might not outlast his tenure as attorney general. The State Senate, which is controlled by Republicans and a breakaway faction of independent Democrats, remains divided on the issue. For the women in question, the trip out of state can be medically and financially burdensome. And dealing with the insurance bill afterward is no easy lift. The state law “is just kind of adding this extra layer of expense, shame and health risk to people who are already going through the absolute worst moment of their lives,” said one woman who flew from New York to Colorado in May for an abortion at 32 weeks pregnant after her doctors determined that the fetus was not viable. The woman, who described her experiences in a lengthy Late-term abortions are rare, though the precise number is fuzzy. Staff at the New York Civil Liberties Union estimated that they had fielded only one or two requests a year from women seeking guidance on the procedure, while Dr. Chasen said he saw a handful of such cases every year.