5.000 ABORTION AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

5.989               Ensuring Access to Reproductive Health Services Medications

The Medical Society of the State of New York will advocate and support the continuation of the Food and Drug Administration’s authority to determine whether drugs are safe and effective.

The Medical Society of the State of New York will support legal efforts to ensure that mifepristone and misoprostol are available to anyone for whom they are prescribed.

The Medical Society of the State of New York support efforts, including joining in an Amicus Brief, to ensure that both these medications continue to be available, and that the FDA retain its regulatory authority.

A copy of this resolution will be forwarded to the American Medical Association for its consideration. (HOD 2023-Late D)

5.990               Protecting NYS Practitioners Delivering Contraception and Abortion Care    

MSSNY will support measures to protect practitioners licensed and residing in New York from legal or personal liability when delivering healthcare services to residents of New York State or any other state, whether in person or via telemedicine, when the services provided comply with New York State laws and regulations.

MSSNY will adopt as policy and support legislation to provide protections, including against extradition to any other state, for providers who perform comprehensive women’s health services that are legal in New York State.

MSSNY will seek legislation or regulation that allows anyone sued in another state for providing or helping someone access reproductive health services in New York to file their own legal action for unlawful interference with a protected right, and to recover damages from the out of state litigant. (HOD 2023 – 164,165)

5.991    Right for Gamete Preservation Therapies

MSSNY officially recognizes and supports the right for the members of the New York transgender and non-binary community to seek fertility preservation services as an option for those who wish to preserve future fertility through gamete preservation prior to undergoing gender affirming medical or surgical therapies. (HOD 2019-119)

5.992               Sale of Emergency Contraception Medicine Over-the-Counter:

MSSNY encourages physicians and other health professionals to play a more active role in providing education about emergency contraception, including access and informed consent issues, by discussing it as part of routine family planning and contraceptive counseling.  MSSNY supports access to emergency contraception, including making emergency contraception pills more readily available through hospitals, clinics, emergency rooms, acute care centers, and physicians’ offices.  (HOD 2003-158; Modified and reaffirmed, HOD 2013; reaffirmed HOD 2023)

5.993               Unintended Pregnancies:

Individuals with an unintended pregnancy are less likely to seek early prenatal care and could expose the fetus to harmful substances such as tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs.  Harmful exposure and the lack of early prenatal care can lead to low birth weight newborns due to premature birth and/or growth retardation in utero.  Low birth weight is the most important risk factor for infant morbidity and mortality, and infant mortality is commonly used as a health status indicator of the population.  Unfortunately, this country has an infant mortality rate that is higher than most industrialized countries.

The Medical Society of the State of New York supports requiring any prescription drug plans offered by insurance companies and health maintenance organizations to cover the cost of prescriptive contraceptives.  Furthermore, the Medical Society supports direct access for women to obstetric and gynecologic services.  (White Paper on Women’s Health Initiatives Council 11/2/00; Modified and reaffirmed HOD 2014; Modified and reaffirmed HOD 2024).

5.994               Infertility:

MSSNY recognizes that infertility is a disease of the reproductive system that impairs one of the body’s most basic functions, the conception of children, and supports the requirement for insurance coverage for infertility treatments.  (HOD 2000-91; Reaffirmed HOD 2002-152; Modified and reaffirmed HOD 2013; reaffirmed HOD 2023)

5.995           Contraceptive Prescription Drugs, Insurance Coverage for Payment of: Sunset HOD 2011

5.996          Freedom of Choice:

It is the position of MSSNY that reproductive choice, as any medical decision, is one of an informed consent between the patient and his/her physician.  (HOD 1989-27; Reaffirmed HOD 2013; reaffirmed HOD 2023)

5.997            Abortion:

Abortion is a medical procedure and should be performed only by a duly licensed physician in conformance with standards of good medical practice.  Neither physician, hospital, nor hospital personnel shall be required to perform an act violative of good medical judgment or personally held moral principles.  In these circumstances good medical practice requires only that the physician or other professional withdraw from the case so long as the withdrawal is consistent with good medical practice.  (Council 10/13/83; Reaffirmed HOD 2003-158; Reaffirmed HOD 2013; reaffirmed HOD 2023)

MSSNY opposes legislative proposals that utilize federal or state health care funding mechanisms to deny established and accepted medical care to any segment of the population.  MSSNY recognizes the fact of legalized abortion and supports the right of all women to safe and legal abortion.  (HOD 1982-5; Reaffirmed HOD 2013; reaffirmed HOD 2023)

MSSNY opposes any legislation that criminalizes the exercise of clinical judgment in the delivery of medical care. (HOD 2013 amended and added policy; reaffirmed HOD 2023)

5.998               Contraceptive Sales:

MSSNY supports efforts to liberalize the sale of contraceptives in New York State by the removing of age restrictions and the limitation of sales to pharmacies.  (Council 12/2/72; Modified and Reaffirmed HOD 2013)

5.999            Family Planning for Persons on Public Welfare Assistance: Sunset HOD 2013