Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Delivers Remarks at The National Institute for Reproductive Health's Annual Champions of Choice Awards Luncheon

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul attended the National Institute for Reproductive Health's Annual Champions of Choice Awards Luncheon and delivered remarks.

VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO of the event is available here.

PHOTOS of the event are available on the Governor's Flickr page.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

I am so delighted to be here. First of all, this is not my first gathering. I've tried to come every year we've been in person, and I have such admiration for Andrea Miller and all the battles we fought, shoulder to shoulder together. So Andrea, I want to thank you for all you've done for this amazing organization, putting NIRH truly on the map.

Aisha, thank you for your work as a Board member. And of course, to our honorees, Amy Schumer, Cecily Strong and DeShawn Taylor. So, you finally get to eat, right? That's good, that's what you're waiting for. You're just like, "Oh, please don't make us stop eating. She just arrived. We really have to listen to a politician after an incredible entertainer? Like, what are we doing here?"

We're here because we are called to stand together. Just like the brave women of our state's history. The women who gathered back in 1848 in Seneca Falls, because they were so sick and tired of being told that they didn't have control over their own bodies or their lives, that they were literally the property of others. Now that was a long journey since then, the right to vote, the right to abortion access, three years before Roe V. Wade, right here in the State of New York. But you know what, when you're growing up, you kind of take rights for granted after a while, don't you? Don't you just assume it's always going to be there? My God it's been the law of the land since 1972, who would ever mess with Roe V. Wade?

"That's not happening in my lifetime," or so we thought. So my mother had a fight for these rights back in her thirties. When I was in my thirties, I had a fight for these rights, running for office in a town that was so conservative they said, "If you run for office and don't take the Right to Life line, you will not win. I didn't take it and I won. But I fought this battle, still fight it. My daughter now is in her thirties and fighting this fight as well as she's often photographed with some protest on, in front of the White House where she lives in Washington. And as someone who's expecting a granddaughter any minute now, I don't want my granddaughter to have to deal with this fight when she's in her thirties, when is it going to stop? When can we count on basic human rights like reproductive freedom?

Well, friends, we can count on that here in the State of New York, because this is part of our DNA. We fight for each other. We stay with each other, we respect each other and our rights.

But what the hell is happening across this country? Just last week, Governor DeSantis of Florida, not only is he taking on Disneyworld, leave Mickey mouse alone for God's sakes, is there's nothing precious anymore? But also, smiling like this is the greatest accomplishment of his life when he stripped women's rights to reproductive freedom after 15 weeks. What are you thinking? And what will you see in the assault on women and reproductive facilities and abortion services in places like Texas. You know, 60% of women in this country live in a state that, if the Supreme Court makes the most egregious decision, not just in our lifetime, but the last two centuries, if that really happens, their lives are forever altered.

Well, here's what I say to them, you come to New York. Welcome to New York. To quote Taylor swift, "welcome to New York." You come right here because we will take care of you. We will nurture you. We'll help you receive the rights that you should be entitled to as an American citizen. So yes, we band together in the hopes that we don't have that outcome, but we need to be ready, my friends, we have to be prepared for the biggest battle of our lives.

And I want to thank the members of this organization for being with me shoulder to shoulder, as I mentioned, to fight for common sense legislation in our state legislature. I was so proud to be, at the time, the president of the Senate in New York State, when we pass the Reproductive Health Act. That was something that should have happened long before we got it done.

Also, we're working close with Andrea and the team to see why not allow telemedicine abortion? Why do people have to show up at an office if they want to be able to get prescriptions and be able to get consultation? Why isn't that covered?

Also, I called out Facebook, at the time, Meta now, I called them out and said, "What are you doing to police all the mistruths, the lies that are out there about abortion on your platforms? What are you doing about it?" Because we know how sinister lies can forment, like "The Big Lie, the Stolen Election," all of a sudden it becomes part of the bloodstream and people start believing this stuff. So I called them out and said, "Be responsible. Don't allow this to happen. Stop it. You know it's going on." Well, anybody keeping score? I'm still waiting for a response back from them. So I won't forget that one any anytime soon.

But also in my budget, just passed, we made sure that access to reproductive healthcare is a right that every person is entitled to and will be provided by every insurance company doing business in the State of New York.

So that's what we're doing here, my friends. And I'm going to continue on this battle because we're just getting warmed up. We like to take on a good fight. It's in our DNA. And I thank everyone in this room for being the warriors against injustice as we see it everywhere, warriors on behalf of the women in other parts of this country group who are being denied their rights, and warriors to say it has to stop. It stops in our lifetime, let's band together and continue doing that.

Thank you my friends for supporting this great organization. Congratulations, everybody.