S135 expands support for individuals seeking an abortion by allowing financial assistance for access costs—such as transportation (ground and air), lodging, meals, childcare, translation services, and doula support. It enhances the existing "Reproductive Freedom and Equity Grant Program" funded solely through state appropriations to help cover abortion costs.
The New York State Senate passed S135 on January 21, 2025 by a vote of 39 to 20. We have assigned pluses to the nays because the care of human life—not its destruction—is the highest responsibility of government. No one has a right to kill a preborn child under the guise of "reproductive freedom," much less force his neighbor to finance it through taxation. New York ought not only to forbid abortion entirely, upholding the sanctity of life for every person, but also to end all immoral and unconstitutional forms of government-imposed theft that seize the wages of citizens. The right to life is the most fundamental, God-given, and unalienable right—secured by the Fifth, Ninth, and 14th Amendments and affirmed in the Declaration of Independence's statement that all are "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness," with Life as the first and most essential.
