New York’s late-term abortion law allows the procedure after twenty-four weeks of pregnancy in two circumstances: when the fetus is not viable, or when an abortion is necessary to protect the patient’s life or health. Before twenty-four weeks, abortion is available for any reason. The rules sit in Public Health Law § 2599-bb, part of the Reproductive Health Act signed in 2019, and reproductive autonomy was added to the state constitution by voters in 2024.1New York State. Abortion in New York State: Know Your Rights
The Twenty-Four-Week Dividing Line
Under Public Health Law § 2599-bb, any licensed healthcare practitioner acting within their scope of practice can perform an abortion when the patient is within twenty-four weeks from the start of pregnancy. No additional medical justification is required during that window beyond the patient’s decision and the practitioner’s professional judgment.2New York State Senate. New York Public Health Law 2599-BB – Abortion
Twenty-four weeks is a legal threshold, not a medical one. Before it, access is straightforward. After it, one of two specific conditions must be met.
The Two Grounds After Twenty-Four Weeks
Once a pregnancy passes twenty-four weeks, the statute permits abortion only when the fetus is not viable, or when the abortion is necessary to protect the patient’s life or health. In both cases, the practitioner must exercise reasonable and good faith professional judgment based on the specific facts of the patient’s situation.2New York State Senate. New York Public Health Law 2599-BB – Abortion
Non-viability means the fetus cannot survive outside the womb. That determination rests with the attending practitioner and typically follows imaging, testing, and often consultation with maternal-fetal medicine specialists. The life-or-health ground turns on whether continuing the pregnancy poses a risk that the practitioner, in good faith judgment, concludes warrants ending it.
The professional judgment standard does real work here. The law does not require a second opinion, a hospital ethics committee, or pre-approval from any government body. The attending practitioner evaluates the circumstances and makes the call. That is where New York’s framework diverges from states that impose mandatory waiting periods, multiple physician sign-offs, or narrow definitions of qualifying emergencies.
What “Health” Covers
The statute says “life or health” without defining health. The working definition comes from the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Doe v. Bolton, which held that a physician’s medical judgment “may be exercised in the light of all factors — physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman’s age — relevant to the wellbeing of the patient. All these factors may relate to health.”3Justia. Doe v Bolton, 410 U.S. 179
In practice, a provider can weigh the full picture of a patient’s wellbeing when deciding whether a post-twenty-four-week abortion is necessary. A severe fetal diagnosis that would cause lasting psychological harm, a physical complication that threatens long-term health without being immediately life-threatening, or a combination of medical and personal factors can all satisfy the standard. Health is broader than “will the patient die without this procedure.”
Who Can Perform the Procedure
New York’s law does not limit abortion to physicians. Any healthcare practitioner licensed under Title 8 of the Education Law and acting within their lawful scope of practice can perform the procedure. Title 8 covers physicians, physician assistants, nurses, nurse practitioners, and licensed midwives, among others.2New York State Senate. New York Public Health Law 2599-BB – Abortion
Scope of practice matters. A practitioner trained and certified for a particular procedure can perform it; one who is not cannot. Later-term procedures typically take place in hospitals or specialized surgical centers because they require a higher level of clinical support. The RHA expanded who can provide care without lowering the medical standards for delivering it.
How Gestational Age Is Measured
Because the twenty-four-week threshold carries legal weight, dating the pregnancy accurately matters. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends determining gestational age using the date of the patient’s last menstrual period, an early ultrasound, or both. ACOG’s guidance, reaffirmed in 2025, specifies that a pregnancy without an ultrasound before twenty-two weeks should be considered “suboptimally dated.” Once the gestational age and estimated due date are established, they should be documented in the medical record and changed only in rare circumstances.4American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Methods for Estimating the Due Date
The statute does not prescribe a counting method, but any practitioner making a judgment call near the twenty-four-week line will rely on these clinical standards.
Paying for the Procedure
New York health insurance policies, including Medicaid, may cover abortion services. Coverage requirements apply only to policies purchased in New York. Someone traveling to the state from elsewhere may find their home-state insurance does not cover the procedure, particularly if the policy was purchased in a state that restricts abortion coverage.5New York State. Safe Abortion Access for All
At the federal level, the Hyde Amendment prohibits the use of federal funds for abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or when the pregnancy endangers the patient’s life. Federal Medicaid dollars therefore cannot pay for most abortion services. New York uses state funds to cover abortions through its Medicaid program that federal dollars would not reach.
Protections for Patients Coming From Other States
Since 2022, New York has enacted and expanded shield laws that protect people who provide, receive, or help someone access abortion from legal action originating in other states. The Attorney General’s office describes the protections in several categories.6New York State Attorney General. Shield Law Protections
- State and local law enforcement are generally prohibited from arresting or extraditing anyone in connection with providing or receiving protected healthcare in New York. Extradition requests must be denied unless the demanding state proves the person was physically present there at the time of the alleged offense and fled.
- Courts and clerks cannot issue or domesticate subpoenas connected to out-of-state proceedings that target legal reproductive care, whether criminal or civil.
- Law enforcement agencies are barred from cooperating with out-of-state investigations into protected healthcare, including sharing data from license-plate readers, health databases, or other state records.
- Without a warrant, law enforcement cannot purchase or obtain electronic data revealing information about a person’s health conditions, treatment, or visits to healthcare facilities.
The legislature extended these protections in 2023 to providers delivering care via telemedicine to patients outside New York. A 2025 update allows pharmacy prescription labels to display the practice address instead of the provider’s personal name. Anyone sued in another state for providing, accessing, or helping someone access legal abortion care in New York can also file a lawsuit here for unlawful interference and recover compensatory and punitive damages.7Center for Reproductive Rights. New York
A 2024 update to the HIPAA Privacy Rule adds a federal layer. Healthcare providers, insurance plans, and their business associates cannot disclose protected health information to support investigations into someone for seeking, obtaining, or providing reproductive healthcare that was lawful where it occurred. The rule presumes that care provided by someone other than the entity receiving the records request was lawful, unless the entity has actual knowledge otherwise.8U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. HIPAA Privacy Rule Final Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy – Fact Sheet
Constitutional Backing
In November 2024, New York voters approved Proposition 1 with roughly 62 percent of the vote, amending the state constitution to prohibit discrimination based on “reproductive healthcare and autonomy” alongside race, sex, age, disability, and other protected characteristics. The amendment added this language to Article 1, Section 11 of the New York Constitution.9New York State Board of Elections. 2024 Statewide Ballot Proposal
A future legislature could theoretically amend or repeal the Public Health Law provisions, but removing a constitutional guarantee requires another voter-approved amendment. That gives the framework a layer of durability that most states lack.