Mr. Cuomo's new agenda on women's rights

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/opinion/strengthening-reproductive-rights-in-new-york.html

Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants to re-establish women’s equality for abortion rights by new agenda. New York’s abortion law bans the procedure after 24 weeks of pregnancy unless the woman’s life is at risk. But an exception to protect a woman’s health is required by federal law. Mr. Cuomo is trying to bring New York into line with them. Actually, some New York doctors fear prosecution and, as a result, some women are forced to leave the state to get the care they need although federal law comes before the state’s law. As we learned in the articles this week, seven other states have already passed similar protections. In contrast, lawmakers in Mississippi, Arkansas, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming have made state laws so restrictive. Some states could soon have no abortion services at all. I believe that Reproductive Justice exists when all people have the social, political and economic power and resources to make healthy decisions about our gender, bodies, sexuality and families for ourselves and our communities. Therefore, I suppose that his positive review toward women’s rights would help women in New York have choices related to reproductive rights.

Finally, Mr. Cuomo also aims to provide new protections for pregnant workers and victims of domestic violence as well as the abortion law. Job, housing and salary discrimination against women with children would be banned by his agenda on women’s rights. According to AAUW (2012), new research has documented that employers are less likely to hire mothers compared with childless women, and when employers do make an offer to a mother, they offer them lower salaries than they do other women. Fathers, in contrast, do not suffer a penalty compared with other men. This is called “the Motherhood Penalty.” So, as Mr. Cuomo says, the protections for those women are needed because I think that they have to be supported by a society and a company under the law.