The 1973 Supreme Court ruling in Roe v Wade affirmed women's rights to have an abortion.

However, the ruling allows states to ban abortion at 24 weeks unless the woman's life is in danger.

The Reproductive Health Act would change that, by:

• shifting language for abortions from the state’s penal code to the public health law,
• changing abortion’s status as an exception to homicide,
• and allowing abortions in the third trimester of a pregnancy under certain circumstances, like risk to the mother's health or if the fetus isn't viable.

It has passed in the Democrat-led state Assembly.

And now that Democrats will have the majority in the state Senate, can advocates expect to see it become law?

Andrea Miller is President of the National Institute for Reproductive Health.