Senate Bill S8656A

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S8656A

SPONSOR: MAYER
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the education law, in relation to the dispensing of
certain prescriptions

 
PURPOSE:

To allow providers prescribing medication abortion to request that the
pharmacy exclude certain identifying information on prescription labels,
or if they dispense the drugs themselves, allow them to exclude such
information.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends paragraph b-1 of subdivision 1 of section 6807 of the
education law to allow individuals dispensing medication abortion to
omit the name and address of the dispenser and patient, provided that
the label includes a prescription number or other means of identifying
the prescription. Providers must keep a log of all prescriptions filled
              

under these protections for at least five years.  Such records are
subject to the protections of the state's abortion shield law.

Section 2 amends subdivision 1-a of section 6810 of the education law to
require that when requested by the prescriber, pharmacies exclude the
name and address of the prescriber, patient, and pharmacy when dispens-
ing medication abortion. Such information must be maintained in pharmacy
logs of filled prescriptions and is subject to the projections of the
shield law.

Section 3 provides the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Since the Supreme Court's disastrous decision to revoke the constitu-
tional right to an abortion in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women's Health Organ-
ization in June 2022, states around the country have moved to restrict
access to abortion. As of November 2024, nineteen states ban abortion
under twelve weeks. Thirteen of those states have functionally a full
ban; another four ban abortion after 6 weeks, when few women even know
they are pregnant.' Over half of women between the ages of 18-49 live in
a state with some restrictions on abortion care.2

Medication abortion has become a lifeline for many individuals seeking
abortions in hostile states. In 2023, New York passed a telehealth
shield law (Chapter 138 of the laws of 2023) to provide broad protection
to doctors based in New York serving patients in those states via tele-
health. These protections include shielding New York health care practi-
tioners against states that may try to impose civil or criminal sanc-
tions upon them and protection from professional disciplinary action or
adverse action from medical malpractice insurers.

Thanks to New York's shield law, providers based in New York are able to
send thousands of abortion pills to patients based in hostile states
each month, helping women who may not otherwise be able to access
abortion care. According to research by the Society for Family Planning,
in the first six months of 2025, 2796- of abortions nationally were
provided via telehealth. In states where abortion is banned, telehealth
makes up nearly 100% of abortions. (A small number are provided under
exceptions to some state laws). As of June 2025, the Society for Family
Planning estimates that 55% of telehealth abortions are being provided
from states with shield laws like New York's.3

In response to escalating threats to telehealth providers, in 2025 New
York strengthened its telehealth shield law, including by allowing phar-
macies and prescribers filling prescriptions to use the name of the
prescribing doctor's practice rather than their name on the prescription
label (Chapter 7 of the laws of 2025). Unfortunately, attacks on provid-
ers serving women through telehealth have only increased since then.

This legislation provides further protections for providers and patients
taking advantage of telehealth care. It would allow prescribers to
request that a pharmacy exclude their name and the name and address of
the patient and pharmacy when filling a prescription for medication
abortion. Similarly, doctors dispensing medication abortion would be
allowed to exclude their and their patient's name and address from the
prescription label. Pharmacies and doctors would be required to keep
records of their prescriptions for five years which would be subject to
the existing protections of New York's shield law. Similar protections
were adopted by California in September of 2025 (Chapter 136 of
California's laws of 2025).

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
1"Abortion in the United States Dashboard." Kaiser Family Foundation.
Accessed December 11, 2025.  https://www.kff.org/womens-
healthpolicy/abortion-in-the-u-s-dashboard/
2 Gomez, Ivette et al. "10 Things to Know About Abortion Access Since
the Dobbs Decision." Kaiser Family Foundation. Published June 20, 2024.
https://www.kff.org/policy-watch/10-things-to-know-about-abortion-access
since-the-dobbs-decision/
3" WeCount report, April 2022 to June 2025." Society for Family Plan-
ning. Published December 9, 2025. Accessed December 11, 2025.  law.
Similar protections were adopted by California in September of 2025
(Chapter 136 of California's laws of 2025).,