New York State Senate Committee on Health Abortion Legislation File

L0236-02: Uncertain arrangement

This series was created as a result of the New York State Senate Committee on Health's review of state abortion law during the late 1960s and early 70s. The files include a copy of the Report of the Governor's Commission Appointed to Review New York State's Abortion Law (issued in 1968); transcripts of public hearings; a copy of the Final Report (including Minority Report) of the Joint Legislative Committee on the Problems of Public Health, Medicare, Medicaid and Compulsory Health and Hospital Insurance on Proposed Revisions of the Abortion Law (issued in 1969); Report of the Senate Health Committee Regarding the Abortion Law (issued in 1971); position papers, internal reports, press releases, statements, letters and similar material from concerned parties (e.g., citizens, public agencies, New York State Council on Churches, media outlets, pressure groups, the New York Academy of Medicine, and the Right to Life Committee) regarding changes in New York's abortion laws;

reports on studies of abortion legislation conducted in other states; newspaper and magazine clippings regarding changes in abortion laws; and committee and Senate records concerning legislation to revise the abortion law, including proposed legislation and tally sheets for Senate votes on related bills. As a whole, these records document the controversies surrounding the state's abortion legislation in the late 1960s and early 1970s and of the Senate Health Committee's actions to study and reform the state's laws. The records also document public and private efforts to influence the committee as it considered proposed legislation.

These records were transferred to the State Archives by Edmund Waaler, Director of the State Senate's Tourism, Recreation and Sports Development Committee. According to Waaler, the records formerly belonged to Harriet Morse (now deceased) who had been Director of the State Senate's Committee on Health during the 1960s and 1970s. After Ms. Morse left the Senate, Waaler kept the records in his possession because of their historical significance.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of this material.