In April 2025, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation expanding protections for reproductive health providers, especially those prescribing abortion medication via telehealth. The new law allows providers to use the name of their practice instead of their personal names on prescription labels—an important safeguard in the wake of hostile state prosecutions against out-of-state providers. It reinforces New York’s role as a sanctuary state for reproductive care, especially following the indictment of a New York doctor who prescribed abortion pills to a patient in Louisiana.
Complementing this, the New York Legislature is considering the New York Health Information Privacy Act (A.2141/S.929), a bill that would significantly enhance digital privacy protections for reproductive and gender-affirming care. The proposed law prohibits the sale of electronic health data without affirmative consent, mandates deletion after 60 days unless extended, and limits data collection and use. The bill seeks to ensure that providers and patients are shielded from the use of such data by out-of-state law enforcement by minimizing the digital footprint of sensitive health information.