Organizations throughout the country are stepping up to challenge a new law in Texas that puts restrictions on women's reproductive rights.
Here in New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul is working with advocates to ensure women know their rights.
Leaders of Planned Parenthood in the Capital Region say since Texas passed what's known as the Heartbeat Bill, women, practitioners and advocates have become concerned about the future of reproductive rights.
Chelly Hegan, president and CEO of Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood, says the law restricts abortions after six weeks, but it allows civilians to sue anyone assisting women with abortions and receive monetary rewards of up to $10,000.
That's why the organization is working to provide support any way they can.
“It’s not as if we can help them specifically from Albany, Hudson or Troy, but what we can do is make sure we can provide full access to care, no matter who comes knocking at our door, where they come from or what state their in, or their financial circumstances,” Hegan said.
She says the group is planning a large rally at the Albany Capitol buildings in October. The organization has stepped up to provide extra support to clinics after Texas enacted a ban on abortions over six weeks.
“My colleagues who run Planned Parenthood in Texas, much like ours, are experiencing a situation now where their call centers have turned into crisis centers,” Hegan said.
Planned Parenthood facilities provide sex education, advocacy and medical treatment, services ranging from contraception to cervical cancer screenings. But abortion is a service offered at clinics, which has again placed Planned Parenthood clinics under the spotlight.
“People will say, 'why do you make abortions so political?' And I say, 'we don’t make it political. We have been politicized,'” Hegen said.
Hegan says the law is a slippery slope.
"There’s already states lining up to try similar legislation, and so we can only assume that women are going to be at more and more risk as time goes by,” she said.
Roe v. Wade remains a target because it lies at the intersection of sexism and racism, but also classism, Hegen said.
“Where low-income women, women of color, young women, immigrant women, people who have the least amount of power...in our society, they’re already in a place where they can’t make decisions for themselves because everything about our society is crushing down on them,” Hegen said.
Anti-abortion advocates argue that there is an unborn child, worthy of protecting.
Most recently, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to uphold the new ban in Texas, and the U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit to stop it.
Hegan feels this is the time for more advocates to step forward.
"Not just white, Black or Hispanic women, but everyone,” she said.