NEW YORK (LifeSiteNews) – The Big Apple is marking Women’s History Month 2025 by launching an exhibit on the history of “reproductive rights” and New York City’s work to advance them, Democrat Mayor Eric Adams announced Tuesday.
The exhibit, a project of the New York City Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS), uses “historical documents dating back to 1828 — including court records, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) charts, and photos of locations where illegal abortions were performed — to tell the full evolution of the city’s stance on abortion from criminality to full access,” according to a city press release.
It intends to perpetuate a false narrative that restricting abortion endangers women’s health and casts a heroic light on New York’s absolutist pro-abortion record on the issue in the modern era. The exhibit, which opened March 18 and runs until April 30, is free to attend.
“For too long, women in need of reproductive health care were forced into the shadows, turning to dangerous alternatives to receive the support they needed. In New York City, we’re proud to be a beacon of light for all women seeking reproductive care and services,” Adams declared. “Thanks to this exhibit, New Yorkers can trace and understand our history of reproductive rights — from the early, dark days of criminality to our status today as a national role model. This month, during Women’s History Month, and every month, our city stands with protecting, empowering, and leading on women’s health care.”
“As chair of the City Council’s Health Committee, I commend the administration for shedding light on New York City’s complex history of reproductive rights,” New York City Council member Lynn Schulman added. “This exhibit is a powerful reflection of our city’s journey — from criminalization to becoming a national leader in protecting abortion access — and a reminder of the ongoing fight to safeguard these rights. At a time when reproductive freedoms are under attack across the country, New York City remains a beacon of progress and a safe haven for those seeking care.”
Under Adams, New York City has been aggressive in supporting “access” to abortion-on-demand, including by dispensing abortion pills free of charge and instituting telehealth abortion services through the city’s public health system. Disregard for the preborn and pro-life residents has also been made clear by allowing aborted babies to be treated as medical waste instead of human remains and excluding pro-lifers from last year’s St. Patrick’s Day parade.
The state of New York is similarly uncompromising. Last November, voters approved Proposition 1, a so-called “Equal Rights Amendment” adding “sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy,” as protected classes to the state constitution’s “equal protection” clause.
Thirteen states currently ban all or most abortions. But the abortion lobby is working feverishly to cancel out those deterrents via deregulated interstate distribution of abortion pills, legal protection and financial support of interstate abortion travel, constructing new abortion facilities near borders shared by pro-life and pro-abortion states, making liberal states sanctuaries for those who want to evade or violate the laws of more pro-life neighbors, and enshrining abortion “rights” in state constitutions.