Mark Grisanti By now you probably know that even though Democrats have a majority of seats in New York's state Senate, the chamber is actually controlled by the minority Republicans, along with a band of renegade Democrats known as the Independent Democratic Conference, or IDC. This sordid arrangement has thwarted all manner of progressive priorities, including the Women's Equality Act, which, among other things, would ensure that New York law permits women to get abortions when their health is threatened.