The Federal Government's Assault on Women

Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul today issued an open letter to Senior Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump ahead of her visit to New York on Monday condemning the federal government’s assault on women. The full text of the letter is available below: Dear Ms. Trump, Welcome back to New York, the birthplace of the women’s rights movement. As your administration leads an all-out assault on women and on reproductive rights, I hope you use this visit to remember our shared values and what we stand for here in New York. During the campaign, you said advocating for women was “core” to your “personal and professional mission.” So why do you not speak out against the President’s anti-women agenda? Your silence is deafening. Under President Trump, the federal government is attempting to turn back the clock on decades of progress. Your Administration has attacked Planned Parenthood and taken action to deny women contraceptive coverage and health services, reshaped Title X, the federal program for affordable birth control, to focus on abstinence education, and imposed an outrageous gag rule to prevent health care providers across the country from referring their patients for safe, legal abortion. Now, your administration is poised to appoint an extreme conservative Supreme Court Justice who will put Roe v. Wade and advancements in reproductive health care in jeopardy. In New York, Governor Cuomo and I believe that all people should have control over their own health and bodies; we believe that a woman who does not control her own body is not truly equal to a man; and we believe that after generations of advancements in women’s equality and advancements in women’s status, we do not want to go back. While Washington wages war on women, in New York we are taking action to strengthen women’s rights. This year, Governor Cuomo passed a bold Women’s Opportunity Agenda to build on the progress we made enacting the most comprehensive paid family leave program in the nation. As part of this agenda, we removed guns from domestic abusers and passed the most comprehensive anti-sexual harassment protections in the nation. And when your administration tried to destroy the Affordable Care Act, we acted immediately with regulatory action to ensure that contraceptive drugs and devices are covered by commercial health insurance policies without co-pays, coinsurance or deductibles. While you are in Upstate New York, I urge you to visit Seneca Falls. It was here 170 years ago that women and men gathered at the Seneca Falls Convention to launch the modern women’s rights movement. Today, New York is upholding the legacy of Seneca Falls and fighting to protect and strengthen the rights of all New Yorkers. From one New Yorker to another, I hope you will join us in this fight. Sincerely, Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul]]>