Enacts the reproductive health care facilities and religious worship access act; provides that the crime of criminal interference with health care services or religious worship shall be established by the mens rea of knowingly injuring, intimidating or interfering with a person obtaining or providing or assisting in obtaining or providing reproductive health services; includes in the definition of such crime engaging in a course of conduct or repeatedly committing acts within twenty-five feet of the premises of a reproductive health care facility; defines such premises; provides for a civil cause of action for any person harmed by conduct constituting such a crime.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A4596
SPONSOR: Bichotte Hermelyn TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the penal law and the civil rights law, in relation to
enacting the reproductive health care facilities and religious worship
access act
PURPOSE:
To prohibit interference with access to reproductive health care
services and places of religious worship so that persons harmed by such
conduct can seek redress in the courts and the state can obtain injunc-
tive relief and damages.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
To prohibit interference with access to reproductive health care
services and places of religious worship so that persons harmed by such
conduct can seek redress in the courts and the state can obtain injunc-
tive relief and damages.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill specifies that the act shall be cited as the
"reproductive health care facilities and religious worship access act".
Section 2.of the bill is the legislative intent.
Section 3 amends section 240.70 of the penal law, as added by chapter
635 of the laws of 1999, to:
(a) eliminate for most offenses the requirement that a person must
intentionally commit an offense set forth to be guilty of criminal
interference with health care services or religious worship in the
second degree and replace it with knowingly commits an offense set
forth;
(b) include protection for offenses committed against a person assisting
in obtaining or providing reproductive health care services or assisting
an individual in seeking to exercise the right of religious worship;
(c) include as-an offense when a person engages in a course of conduct
or repeatedly commits acts or attempts to engage in conduct or acts
within 25 feet of the premises of a reproductive health care facility to
discourage another person from obtaining, providing, or assisting in
obtaining or providing, reproductive health care services when such
behavior places such other person in reasonable fear or harm;
(d) include as-an offence when a person engages in a course of conduct
or repeatedly commits acts, or attempts to engage in conduct or acts
within 25 feet of the premises of a place of religious worship to
discourage another person from obtaining, providing, or assisting in the
exercise of their right of religion at a place of religious worship when
such behavior places such other person in reasonable fear or harm;
(e) include as an offense when a person within 100 hundred feet of the
entrance to, or within, a reproductive health care facility, inten-
tionally videotapes, films, photographs, or records by electronic means,
a reproductive health care services patient, person assisting the
patient, provider, or assistant, without the person's consent with the
intent to intimidate such person from becoming or remaining a patient,
assisting a patient, provider, or assistant, and thereby causes the
person to be intimidated;
(f) include as an offense intentionally disclosing or distributing a
videotape, film, photograph or recording knowing it was obtained in
violation of this section, with the specific intent to intimidate a
person from becoming or remaining a patient, assisting a patient,
provider, or assistant, and thereby causes the person to be intimidated;
(g) include as an offense knowingly publicly posting, displaying, or
distributing on the Internet or social media, the personal information
or image of any reproductive health care services patient, person
assisting a patient, provider, or assistant with the intent to incite a
third person to cause imminent great bodily harm to such person; or
threatens the reproductive care health services patient, person assist-
ing the patient, provider, or assistant so identified that places them
in objectively reasonable fear for their personal safety; and
(h) include definitions for the terms "image", "interferes with",
"personal information", "publicly post or publicly display", "premises
of a reproductive health care facility", and "premises of a place of
religious worship".
Section 4 amends section 79-m of the civil rights law, as amended by
chapter 566 of the laws of 2008, to:
(a) authorize a civil claim or cause of action to recover from a defend-
ant, as defined in that section, for physical, psychological or other
injury or condition suffered by a person, including any person whose
ability to access the premises of a health care facility or premises of
a place of religious worship has been interfered with, or any owner or
operator of such a facility, or owner of a building in which such facil-
ity is located, or any employee or volunteer working for such facility,
as a result of acts by such defendant of criminal interference with
health care services or religious worship in the first or second
degrees, or aggravated interference with health care services in the
first or second degrees as defined in the penal law, within five years;
(b) define the term "defendant"; and
(c) authorize the plaintiff in the civil cause of action to seek any
relief available consistent with the civil practice law and rules,
including injunctive relief.
Section 5 is the severability clause.
Section 6 is the effective date.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND AMENDED VERSION:
The amended bill expands protections to persons assisting a reproductive
health care patient, or a person assisting someone seeking to exercise
his or right of religious worship; expands protections for health care
facilities, patients, those assisting patients, providers and their
staff by prohibiting within 100 feet of the entrance to a reproductive
health care facility taking pictures, videotapes, or other images with-
out a person's consent; publicly posting, displaying, disclosing and
distributing personal information or images on the internet or any
social media platform without that person's consent; and expands
protections of religious worship by prohibiting a person from engaging
in conduct within twenty-five feet of a place of religious worship to
discourage a person from exercising his or her right of religion when
such behavior places such person in reasonable fear of harm.
JUSTIFICATION:
The right to obtain reproductive health care services and the right to
religious worship is an essential personal right protected by state and
federal law. Equally, the right to peaceably protest and express one's
views is protected by state and federal law. Such actions include, but
are not limited to, the right to speak, march, demonstrate, pricket,
pray, associate with others in expressive behavior or engage in other
activity protected by the First Amendment. However, concerns have been
raised about individuals or groups of individuals who may exceed the
boundaries of lawful First Amendment expression by engaging in activ-
ities that physically prevent, or unlawfully intimidate people from
entering facilities that provide reproductive health care services or
religious worship.
Acts of violence and harassment against reproductive health care
patients, those assisting them, reproductive health care providers,
their employees and volunteers have persisted and increased. Similarly,
acts of violence and harassment against those seeking to exercise their
right of religious worship have also increased. Both reproductive health
care facilities and places of worship are seeing an increase in threats
and security incidents.
Additionally, laws protecting reproductive health care providers and
patients from online harassment and threats have not kept up with the
rapid expansion of information through social media and do not reflect
the ease with which personal information can be widely circulated. In
2019 alone, reproductive health care providers reported over 22,000
instances of internet harassment.
Current law does not adequately protect reproductive health care facili-
ties and those who work in or seek services from such facilities; or
those seeking to exercise their right to worship. Therefore, it is
appropriate for the protection of the public health, safety and welfare,
to enact legislation that expands current state law to prohibit inter-
ference with access to and freedom to receive reproductive health care
services; access to religious worship and religious freedom; and safe-
guard the private property of both.
This proposed law would expressly ensure that important First Amendment
rights regarding freedom of speech are protected, while at the same time
providing relief for persons whose rights are interfered with in seeking
or delivering reproductive health care services or religious worship
access.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2021-2022:A3902A - Referred to codes
2019-2020:A804 - Referred to codes
2017-2018:A276 - Referred to codes
2015-2016:A182 - Referred to codes
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
The act shall take effect on November 1 next succeeding the date on
which it shall become law.
