Relates to certain crimes of interference with health care services or access to places of religious worship; expands interference to include groups of two or more people demonstrating or preparing to demonstrate twenty-five feet outside of reproductive health care facilities and places of religious worship.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9335
SPONSOR: Lasher TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to certain crimes of inter-
ference with health care services or religious worship
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill would prohibit groups from demonstrating within 25 feet of a
reproductive health care facility or place of worship.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section one amends Penal Law 240.70 to expand the offense of criminal
interference by prohibiting protesting within a twenty-five-foot buffer
zone around reproductive health care facilities and places of religious
worship.
Section two amends Penal Law 240.71 to update the first-degree offense
so that it incorporates access to places of religious worship consistent
with the provisions in 240.70.
Section three sets the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
New York State has seen a sustained increase in hate crimes over recent
years, with religious bias consistently among the leading motivations,
Incidents targeting religious minorities have increased significantly,
as these trends highlight the vulnerability of individuals as they
approach places of worship, It is clear now more than ever that legis-
lation is needed to address these alarming trends and safeguard an indi-
vidual's freedom to worship.
This bill seeks to amend Section 240,70 to safeguard religious freedom,
and promote public safety by ensuring that access to reproductive health
care facilities and places of religious worship remain safe and unob-
structed, By prohibiting demonstrations within twenty-five feet of these
locations, the bill reduces the risk of intimidation, harassment, and
conflict, allowing patients, providers, and worshippers to enter and
exit freely. The buffer zone creates a necessary safeguard that
preserves public peace while accommodating the right to peacefully
assemble,
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
None,
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None,
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have
become a law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9335
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
December 10, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. LASHER, ROZIC, DINOWITZ, LEE, PAULIN, SIMONE,
DeSTEFANO, JENSEN, NORBER -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Codes
AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to certain crimes of inter-
ference with health care services or religious worship
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The section heading, subdivision 1 and subdivision 3 of
2 section 240.70 of the penal law, as added by chapter 635 of the laws of
3 1999, are amended to read as follows:
4 Criminal interference with health care services or access to a place of
5 religious worship in the second degree.
6 1. A person is guilty of criminal interference with health services or
7 access to a place of religious worship in the second degree when:
8 (a) by force or threat of force or by physical obstruction, [he or
9 she] such person intentionally injures, intimidates or interferes with,
10 or attempts to injure, intimidate or interfere with, another person
11 because such other person was or is obtaining or providing reproductive
12 health services; or
13 (b) by force or threat of force or by physical obstruction, [he or
14 she] such person intentionally injures, intimidates or interferes with,
15 or attempts to injure, intimidate or interfere with, another person in
16 order to discourage such other person or any other person or persons
17 from obtaining or providing reproductive health services; or
18 (c) by force or threat of force or by physical obstruction, [he or
19 she] such person intentionally injures, intimidates or interferes with,
20 or attempts to injure, intimidate or interfere with, another person
21 [because] when such person [was or is seeking to exercise the right of
22 religious freedom at] seeks to enter a place of religious worship, or to
23 exercise the right of religious freedom therein; or
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14158-02-5
A. 9335 2
1 (d) [he or she] such person intentionally damages the property of a
2 health care facility, or attempts to do so, because such facility
3 provides reproductive health services, or intentionally damages the
4 property of a place of religious worship[.]; or
5 (e) groups of two or more people demonstrating or preparing to demon-
6 strate outside of a reproductive health care facility fail to maintain
7 twenty-five feet of distance from such facility, including its parking
8 lot entrances, driveway and driveway entrances of such facilities; or
9 (f) groups of two or more people demonstrating or preparing to demon-
10 strate outside of a place of religious worship fail to maintain twenty-
11 five feet of distance from such a place, including its parking lot
12 entrances, driveway and driveway entrances of such facilities.
13 3. For purposes of this section:
14 (a) the term "health care facility" means a hospital, clinic, physi-
15 cian's office or other facility that provides reproductive health
16 services, and includes the building or structure in which the facility
17 is located and shall include the drive, entrance, entryway, or exit and
18 any public way or sidewalk that touches such places;
19 (b) the term "interferes with" means to restrict a person's freedom of
20 movement;
21 (c) the term "intimidates" means to place a person in reasonable
22 apprehension of physical injury to [himself or herself] themself or to
23 another person;
24 (d) the term "physical obstruction" means rendering impassable ingress
25 to or egress from a facility that provides reproductive health services
26 or to or from a place of religious worship, or rendering passage to or
27 from such a facility or place of religious worship unreasonably diffi-
28 cult or hazardous; [and]
29 (e) the term "reproductive health services" means health care services
30 provided in a hospital, clinic, physician's office or other facility and
31 includes medical, surgical, counseling or referral services relating to
32 the human reproductive system, including services relating to pregnancy
33 or the termination of a pregnancy[.]; and
34 (f) the term "place of religious worship" shall mean any building,
35 structure, or space, whether public or private, that is used primarily
36 for religious services, observance, prayer, assembly, or devotional
37 practice and shall include the drive, entrance, entryway, or exit and
38 any public way or sidewalk that touches such places.
39 § 2. Section 240.71 of the penal law, as amended by chapter 493 of the
40 laws of 2009, is amended to read as follows:
41 § 240.71 Criminal interference with health care services or access to a
42 place of religious worship in the first degree.
43 A person is guilty of criminal interference with health care services
44 or access to a place of religious worship in the first degree when [he
45 or she] such person commits the crime of criminal interference with
46 health care services or access to a place of religious worship in the
47 second degree and has been previously convicted of the crime of criminal
48 interference with health care services or access to a place of religious
49 worship in the first or second degree or aggravated interference with
50 health care services in the first or second degree.
51 Criminal interference with health care services or access to a place
52 of religious worship in the first degree is a class E felony.
53 § 3. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
54 have become a law.
