Surrounded by elected female leaders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Gov. Andrew Cuomo mounted  a stage at Barnard College Monday to promise voters that solidifying abortion rights in New York state would be a top priority for the newly empowered Democrats in Albany.

With the 2019 legislative session set to begin on Wednesday, New York Democrats are eager to show voters that November’s Blue Wave, which secured a majority for the party in the State Senate for just the fourth time since World War II, will soon produce bona fide change. At the top of their priority list is the Reproductive Health Act, which would not only guarantee abortion rights but make it easier for women to get late-term abortions.

Cuomo told a packed auditorium that he wants a bill on his desk to sign within 30 days.

"Just so there's no ambiguity: we do the budget in April, and I will not pass a budget until the Reproductive Health Act and the Contraceptive Care Act is passed, period," he said.

He also called on lawmakers to start the process of codifying the protections in the state constitution — a move that would involve approval in two consecutive sessions, before going to voters as a ballot measure.

"You can pass a law today, and lighting can strike and you could have a different political context, and they can pass a new law which would repeal this law," Cuomo said. "We'll put in on the ballot, we'll write it into the Constitution and we'll be able to say we have protected women's rights in a way no one has before.