LEGISLATIVE ADVOCACY
FCLNY is non-partisan, but works with diverse ideological and/or religious organizations that align with our goals.
New York State
Medical Aid in Dying Act
NY Enacted MAID Feb., 6, 2026
Bills passed and signed, A09515, S8835
MAID goes into effect, Aug., 5, 2026
Update on the Status of Medication Abortion in the U.S. and NYS
In FDA vs. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (2024), "The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled to preserve access to the abortion pill mifepristone, a pill used in the most common way to end a pregnancy."
"Thousands of women in states with abortion bans and restrictions are receiving abortion pills in the mail from states that have laws protecting prescribers," including New York.
It is currently legal for medical providers and certified retail pharmacies to mail
abortion pills to women and girls with a prescription via tele-health in NY. Under the current rules surrounding chemical abortion, pregnant women and girls can "take the medication to induce an abortion through 10 weeks of pregnancy," and without a pre-abortion ultrasound.
The RHA Degrades Women and Dehumanizes Children.
New York enacted the Reproductive Health Act (RHA) in January, 2019. This law allows for the killing of viable unborn children, including healthy children in utero, for any reason within 24 weeks of pregnancy. Modern medical science is clear that unborn children can be viable (capable of survival outside the womb) as early as 21 weeks gestation.
The RHA permits killing viable unborn children, including healthy children in utero, during the later-second and third trimester of pregnancy for reasons unrelated to a mother's physical health. In NY, approximately 1,600 unborn children are aborted each year at 20+ weeks gestation. Studies show most later-term abortions are 'elective,' performed on healthy pregnant women and healthy unborn children.
The RHA did away with NY's longstanding fetal homicide law. Because of the RHA it is no longer a separate crime in NY for abusers to kill viable unborn children, including wanted unborn children, in attacks on their mothers.
The RHA allows for an undefined group of health care practitioners to perform abortions, including surgical, second and third trimester abortions. Studies show that even mid-level health care providers that perform abortions have higher rates of “incomplete abortion,” uterine “perforation” and “hemorrhage” than physicians performing abortions.
The RHA eradicated NY Public Health Law (PHL) 4164, without enacting any form of replacement. In NY, later-second and third trimester abortions can occur in facilities other than hospitals, ambulatory centers or physicians' offices. According to studies, including, Risk Factors for Legal Induced Abortion-Related Mortality in the United States, the "risk of death" for "women obtaining legally induced abortions" "increase[s] exponentially by 38% for each additional week of gestation.”
Further, eliminating PHL 4164 allows for infants who survive abortion to die without adequate "medical care" or without a second physician present to care for that infant. According to the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention children are sometimes born alive during later-term induced abortions. See FCLNY's RHA Report.
International
World Beyond War Declaration of Peace
FCLNY Organizational Signer
We seek positive and sustainable peace, founded on justice
“We understand that wars and militarism make us less safe rather than protect us, that they kill, injure and traumatize adults, children and infants, severely damage the natural environment, erode civil liberties, and drain our economies, siphoning resources from life-affirming activities. We commit to engage in and support nonviolent efforts to end all war and preparations for war and to create a sustainable and just peace.”
Please read and consider signing with us as an individual or organization.
Joint Appeal for Nuclear Abolition Day
FCLNY Organizational Signer
Nuclear weapons pose an existential threat to humanity and the planet.
Joint Appeal for the
International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons
September 26, 2026
The United Nations, which was established more than 80 years ago, affirmed nuclear disarmament as a top priority in its very first resolution, A/Res/1(1). In 2013, frustrated at the lack of progress, the UNGA declared September 26 as the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons (A/Res/68/32). This international day serves to enhance public awareness and education about the threat posed to humanity by nuclear weapons and the necessity for their total elimination. Annually on September 26, the UN also holds a high-level meeting of world leaders to discuss “urgent and effective measures” to achieve global nuclear disarmament.
The designation of this date is not arbitrary: one of many times humanity has come perilously close to nuclear war was September 26, 1983, at the height of the Cold War. A nuclear war was narrowly averted when Colonel Stanislav Petrov, Duty Officer at a Russian nuclear early warning facility, broke protocol by not affirming to senior command an apparent incoming ballistic missile attack from the United States (later confirmed as a false alarm). Two years later, the countries at the brink jointly declared that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.” This commitment has been reaffirmed in intervening years, including in a statement by the P-5 states in 2022 and in the Pact for the Future adopted by consensus at the UN Summit of the Future (September 2024).
However, today the risk of nuclear war by accident, miscalculation, crisis escalation, or malicious intent, is higher than ever with the Doomsday Clock ticking closer to midnight than in 1983. The use of nuclear weapons by any of the nine nuclear-armed States or their nuclear allies would have catastrophic human, economic, and environmental consequences. The use of just a small fraction of the 12,300 nuclear weapons in the world’s stockpiles could end life as we know it. In addition, the $100 billion USD spent annually on nuclear weapons is sorely needed to support peacemaking, environmental protection, and other urgent needs of humanity and the planet, as expressed through the Sustainable Development Goals.
The world’s highest court, the International Court of Justice, affirmed that the threat and use of nuclear weapons is generally illegal and that there is a universal obligation for states to negotiate in good faith to achieve comprehensive nuclear disarmament. States currently relying on nuclear weapons for their security have an obligation to replace these policies with approaches based on international law and common security, as outlined in the UN Charter.
The Pact for the Future includes commitments to prevent nuclear war and achieve the global elimination of nuclear weapons. UN Member States should use the opportunity of the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons and UN High Level Plenary Meeting on September 26 to announce concrete plans to achieve these goals.
We, the undersigned, there-fore call on leaders, legislators, and officials at all levels of governance (local/municipal, states, countries, and regional bodies) to:
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Affirm that the threat or use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible;
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Advance tangible measures by nuclear-armed and allied States to implement this obligation, including standing down nuclear forces and adopting policies never to initiate a nuclear war;
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Pledge to achieve the global elimination of nuclear weapons no later than the UN’s centennial anniversary in 2045, and immediately undertake actions, including through multilateral negotiations, to implement this pledge;
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Cut nuclear weapons budgets, and end public and private investments in the nuclear weapons industry; and
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Redirect these funds to strengthen the United Nations, advance peacekeeping and conflict resolution, accelerate steps to protect the climate, and meet human and economic needs as required under Article 26 of the UN Charter.
No time is better than 2026 - the 81st anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the establishment of the United Nations – to undertake these actions to achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world to protect current and future generations.