Sarah Klee Hood, left, and John Mannion, right

Sarah Klee Hood and John Mannion both support access to safe abortions. 

Abortion has become a major topic in their race for the Democratic nomination in New York’s 22nd Congressional District. 

The winner of June 25’s election will face Rep. Brandon Williams, R-NY, in November’s general election. 

Both candidates would vote for a bill introduced last year in the House of Representatives that bars government intervention on abortion procedures. However, they differ on timeline-based restrictions on abortion access.

Klee Hood, a former DeWitt town councilor and United States Air Force veteran, said timeline restrictions take away from people’s body autonomy. 

State senator John Mannion’s support for abortions is closely aligned with New York’s Reproductive Health Act, passed in 2019, prior to his tenure in the legislature. The legislation legalizes all abortions up to 24 weeks of gestation. It also allows for legal abortions beyond that time period if the health of the mother is at risk or if the fetus is not viable. 

He stuck by the limitations after 24 weeks of gestation in an interview with Central Current.

Mannion received a 100% voting record from Planned Parenthood during his 2020 and 2022 state senate campaigns, a distinction he said makes him an ally to the movement to secure women’s reproductive rights.

Their potential opponent, Rep. Brandon Williams, R-NY-22, does not support abortion.

Central Current asked Klee Hood and Mannion about their positions on abortion, as well as what they would do in Congress if elected to ensure abortion protections remain in place.

Sarah Klee Hood

Central Current: Do you support a person’s right to have an abortion? Does your support have any caveats or restrictions?

Klee Hood: Yes, I do support a person’s right to abortion. As a woman, as a mother of two young daughters, this is the world I am currently living in. My daughters are growing up with less rights than I had. As somebody who had to seek abortion care while serving in the military, my position is this: This is a decision between a person and their health care provider, there is zero room for a politician’s opinion in this discussion. When we start to talk about restrictions and timelines, we are taking the autonomy away from the person to make their own choices about their own future. It is imperative that we remove politicians from this decision making field, and ensure that the person is treated as a first class citizen with full respect to their personal choices, their personal future and the best decision that they need to make for themselves medically. This is a medical healthcare position. This is not a political— not a political talking point.

CC: What would you do to ensure people have access to safe and legal abortions?

Klee Hood: Well, if the easiest get is to codify Roe, then we codify Roe. HR 12, the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2023, which ensures that there is no government intervention on abortions. More importantly, it’s ensuring that there are public funds available for abortions. That’s not only through avenues such as Planned Parenthood, but that also goes towards the military as well, because that’s publicly funded.

There are states that have laws in place that make it very challenging for doctors to perform abortions, so that is an abortion desert. We also have rural America where there aren’t emergency services, and for some people that need to have an abortion… they must receive those services within a very finite amount of time. We have to ensure that we are fully funding this initiative.

There’s another piece to this as well that is just as concerning. The doctors that perform abortions are the same doctors that provide miscarriage treatment and care. So if we’re not able to have doctors licensed to perform abortions in specific states, that also means when a woman miscarries, they may not have access to emergency services that they need. So it is ensuring that we never, ever succumb to a national abortion ban, which is what the Republicans are trying to do. Because a national abortion ban overrides all other state law.

John Mannion

Central Current: Do you support a person’s right to have an abortion? Does your support have any caveats or restrictions?

John Mannion: I have a 100% voting record from Planned Parenthood and I’ve been endorsed by Planned Parenthood, in every single one of my previous elections. I’m the only candidate here who has passed legislation and co-sponsored legislation to protect a woman’s right to choose and the providers to provide those services, protected providers that send aborted medication out of the states so that they cannot be litigated against or charged criminally. We have the Equal Rights Amendment coming forward on the ballot this November, which I was a co-sponsor of and passed in both of my legislative sessions. So my record on protecting women’s reproductive rights is clear. It’s attempted to be distorted. What I’ve always said is that I’ve supported the Reproductive Health Act before I was in office.

Context: In 2023, the New York legislature passed the Equal Rights Amendment, a bill that would protect individuals against any government actions that would curtail a person’s reproductive autonomy. New Yorkers will vote to ratify the ERA during the General Election in November.

CC: And just to be clear, that is the New York State law that allows women to get an abortion up to 24 weeks of pregnancy and anything beyond that is allowed as a special case based on extreme conditions, is that correct?

Mannion: That is correct. I do believe that that truly meets the words that I started with, which is that these decisions should be between a woman and her doctor. New York state law reflects that.

CC: What would you do to ensure people have access to safe and legal abortions?

Mannion: We need to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act, to make sure that those protections are in place. If we lose the House [of Representatives], the Senate, and the White House, a national abortion ban is certainly something that is going to be a priority for the other party. Because what it does is it ends up contributing to getting people elected, who legitimately do not support a woman’s right to choose and will vote accordingly. So the actions of my primary opponent in trying to distort my record are really reckless in many ways. I’m proud of my voting record as it relates to this issue, and I will continue to defend a woman’s right to choose in Congress.

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Eddie Velazquez is a Syracuse journalist covering economic justice in the region. He is focused on stories about organized labor, and New York's housing and childhood lead poisoning crises. You can follow...

Anais Mejia is a freelance journalist covering economic justice in the region. She is focused on stories about housing in Syracuse, Interstate 81 and the redevelopment of public housing. Anais is currently...