When it comes to reproductive rights, my position is simple: women should have the freedom to control their own bodies. I believe health decisions are best made by a woman and her doctor — not politicians.
Because of the United States Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Roe v. Wade, girls born in America today will have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers had. That’s not the world I want to live in, and it certainly isn’t the world I want my daughters to grow up in.
But this issue is so much bigger than my or anyone’s individual views about abortion, because every woman in America had her personal rights and freedoms undermined by the decision to strike down Roe. That’s why, while I understand that some individuals are personally opposed to abortion, I believe no one has the right to tell other people what they can or should do with their health decisions. Unfortunately, my opponent wants to impose his personal anti-choice positions on women here in the Hudson Valley, New York, and all across America.
Mike Lawler cheered when the Supreme Court struck down Roe because he wants politicians to control women’s personal and medical decisions. Lawler believes women have no right to an abortion and is supported and bankrolled by the leaders of efforts to ban abortion nationwide. His radical positions aren’t new. Lawler has a long record of undermining reproductive rights. In Albany, Lawler repeatedly voted against protections for women seeking safe, legal abortions, and even voted against protecting doctors from punishment for performing legal abortions. Those votes prove that Lawler is pushing an extremist agenda to criminalize women’s reproductive healthcare.
Several states have already banned abortions, without exceptions for rape, incest, or life of the mother. That’s the result of state’s rights advocates like Lawler. In Ohio, a 10-year-old child was forced to travel out of state to receive an abortion after being raped. In Arizona, an 1864 abortion ban was reinstated that punishes doctors who provide abortions with between two and five years in prison. That law was enacted over 150 years ago and 50 years before Arizona even became a state, yet politicians like Lawler would stand by as these dangerous laws spread nationwide.
Stories like these can be found all across the country. Women’s lives are being endangered and their rights and dignity are taken away because of politicians like Lawler. Here in New York, we aren’t fully protected either because Republicans — including those who avidly support Lawler’s campaign — have pledged to ban abortion nationwide if they retake Congress.
But it’s not too late to stop this assault on our freedoms. While Lawler’s allies in Congress would put forward national abortion bans, Democrats have fought to protect women’s reproductive rights. I was proud to co-sponsor and help pass the Women’s Health Protection Act through the House to enshrine the protections of Roe and the right to abortion into federal law. Lawler has said he would vote against that bill. Lawler also opposes the Reproductive Health Act, which became law in New York in 2019 and codified Roe v. Wade protections to ensure access to safe, legal abortion in New York State.
Simply put: I have always worked to protect women’s rights, access to abortion, and access to contraceptives. Lawler has voted against women’s rights every chance he’s gotten.
Lawler’s favorite distraction from his own desire to control women’s healthcare is shaming women who have abortions late in pregnancy, almost always because of severe health issues of the fetus or mother.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, less than 1% of all abortions take place after 21 weeks, three weeks before the 24-week limit for elective abortions under New York’s Reproductive Health Act, which only allows exceptions after that point to ensure the life or health of the mother and heartbreaking instances where a fetus is no longer viable.
Lawler has attempted to use the many families who have gone through late pregnancy complications to attack me and reproductive rights. These families do not deserve to have their tragic experiences politicized and misrepresented by politicians like Lawler.
Here’s the truth: Lawler wants to ban all elective abortions and supports allowing states to ban abortions without exceptions for rape, incest, or life of the mother. I want to return to the standard of Roe v. Wade by passing the Women’s Health Protection Act into law so women all across America have their rights permanently protected in federal law.
Ultimately, Lawler and his allies in Congress only care about one thing: controlling women, their lives, their bodies, and their personal medical decisions. With their policies, women’s health and safety will be jeopardized.
The choice is clear this November — I will always fight for your rights. Lawler wants to take them away.
Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, represents New York’s 17th Congressional District.
Editor’s Note: A prior letter from Assemblyman Mike Lawler, can be found on our site at
https://yonkerstimes.com/lawler-maloney-is-untruthful-in-tv-ads-about-my-stance-on-abortion/
