Reposted from Capital New York.

ALBANY—Advocates for a package of women’s rights legislation pointed to Jill Abramson today as proof that New York needs a law guaranteeing equal pay.

After Abramson was fired from her position as executive editor of The New York TimesWednesday, some reports said her ouster was precipitated in part by her decision to hire a lawyer to determine whether her compensation package was smaller than that of her male predecessor, Bill Keller.

Abramson was the first woman to lead the Times.

“We have this high-profile case in the past few days,” Bev Neufeld, director of the New York City Equal Pay Coalition, said during a news conference advocating passage of the Women’s Equality Act. “If something can happen to the top woman in journalism, think of how that affects workers all over the state and the country. They’re worried about talking about their pay. They need protections.”

Christine Sadowski, executive director of the Orange County YWCA, also referred to Abramson, as well as the recent kidnapping of hundreds of Nigerian girls, as domestic and global examples of discrimination against women.

Although business groups have objected to the equal-pay component of the ten-point legislative package, the primary sticking point is a controversial provision that would strengthen women’s abortion rights in New York.

State Senate Democrats, including conference leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, urged their Republican colleagues to allow a vote on the bill before session closes in June.

The package was a top legislative priority for Governor Andrew Cuomo during the 2013 session, but the bill stalled in the Senate, which is led by a coalition of Republicans and breakaway Democrats.

Lawmakers at the news conference reiterated that they would make abortion an election issue in November. They also stressed that they wouldn’t separate the bill into individual pieces, even to advance a human trafficking provision that has picked up support recently following a push by Assemblywoman Amy Paulin.