Gov. Hochul Calls Decision Overturning Roe ‘Repulsive at Every Level’

Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York responded on Friday morning to the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade by declaring her state a “safe harbor” for those seeking abortions and reaffirming her commitment to abortion rights.

Hours later, Ms. Hochul, a Democrat who is the state’s first female governor, announced an advertising campaign and a revamped website that would inform women in New York and around the country about their rights to an abortion in the state and potential resources available to them.

“This is repulsive at every level,” Ms. Hochul said Friday about the ruling, speaking at a groundbreaking for the Stonewall National Monument’s visitor center in Manhattan.

She said it was a “dark day for women across this nation” who have “long fought for the right to have control over their own lives.” The ruling means that women will be forced to have “government-mandated pregnancies,” she added.

Ms. Hochul and Democratic state lawmakers had taken steps last month to bolster the state’s abortion laws after it became clear the Supreme Court was poised to overturn Roe v. Wade.

The governor announced a $35 million fund for reproductive health clinics, in part to help them with the expected surge of out-of-state patients seeking access to abortions.

The State Legislature also passed bills meant to protect medical providers from being brought up on charges in other states or otherwise penalized for providing abortions.

New York legalized abortion in 1970, three years before Roe v. Wade was decided. The state quickly became a sanctuary for those seeking to terminate their pregnancies at a time when a patchwork of restrictive laws in each state required many women to travel elsewhere to seek the procedure.

Many abortion providers in New York have been bracing for an influx of out-of-state patients.

“Despite knowing that this is coming, it’s still a reaction of shock and disappointment,” said Chelsea Faso, a family physician who provides abortion care in New York City.

“It’s an attack on bodily autonomy, on the very private relationship between patients and their providers, between patients and their lives,” Dr. Faso said.

Groups that help those seeking the procedure with travel arrangements, food, child care and lodging have been preparing as well.

“The truth is, it will be impossible to help everyone who deserves our support,” Odile Schalit, the executive director of the Brigid Alliance, a New York-based group that assists with logistical costs for abortions, said Friday.

“But we and our partners are poised to scale and will do everything in our power to help abortion seekers navigate the devastating obstacles they face,” she said.

Planned Parenthood of Greater New York announced in a call Friday that it plans to expand its services throughout the state, tapping into a network of abortion providers, hiring more health care professionals and mobilizing educators.

Joy D. Calloway, the organization’s interim chief executive, called the Supreme Court’s decision “a perpetuation of racism, sexism and economic injustice in a country that has a long history of stripping people of their own personal autonomy.”

New York lawmakers had before this year been planning for a future in which Roe v. Wade was overturned.

In 2019, after then-President Donald J. Trump had already appointed two conservative justices to the Supreme Court, New York passed the Reproductive Health Act, which enshrined the right to abortion, expanded access to the procedure, and allowed abortions after 24 weeks to protect the mother’s health or if the fetus was not viable.

Ms. Hochul, who is currently running for her first full term, has made the battle over abortion rights and her efforts to strengthen and protect those rights in New York into a linchpin of her campaign.

“I want everyone to know that abortion remains safe, accessible, and legal in New York,” Ms. Hochul said Friday. “Our state will always be a safe harbor for those seeking access to abortion care.”

The legislation she signed placed New York at the forefront of the group of left-leaning states that are trying to enshrine abortion protections, compared with more conservative states that have taken measures to limit abortion rights or outlaw the procedure entirely.

Mayor Eric Adams of New York City said in a statement that “those seeking abortions around the country” were “welcome here.”

Mr. Adams, a Democrat, later said at a rally on the steps of City Hall that he had gotten his girlfriend pregnant when he was 15 years old and that she had obtained an abortion. His spokesman did not provide further details.

Mr. Adams said he had wanted to keep the child, but his girlfriend was concerned about their future. “She made a decision that was smart for both of us,” the mayor said. “She made the right call because she was in power. She was in control.”