New York has one statewide ballot question for voters to decide this fall: whether to add abortion and LGBTQ rights to the state constitution.
Known as the Equal Rights Amendment or “Prop 1,” the proposal is broader — and less explicit in its wording — than abortion-related amendments other states have taken up since the 2022 Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. New York’s would ban discrimination based on “reproductive healthcare” and a host of other reasons unrelated to abortion, such as sexual orientation, national origin and age.
Campaigns for and against the amendment are underway and are sure to heat up before early voting starts on Oct. 26 for the Nov. 5 election. Both sides in the impending referendum give sharply different takes on whether the amendment is needed and what it could do if passed.
Here’s an overview of the proposal and the clashing arguments.
What would the Equal Rights Amendment say?
The proposal would expand a discrimination ban in New York’s constitution that was written in 1938 and reads: “No person shall, because of race, color, creed or religion, be subjected to any discrimination in his or her civil rights by any other person or by any firm, corporation, or institution, or by the state or any agency or subdivision of the state.”
The amendment would insert a list of other categories that also would be protected from discrimination: “ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, or sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy.”
What would the Equal Rights Amendment do?
Supporters say the amendment would ensure equality for all New Yorkers by cementing their rights in the constitution. But they stress one primary goal: safeguarding abortion rights in the wake of the 2022 court ruling, which ended those rights at the national level after 49 years. Some Republican-led states have since passed laws to ban or curtail access to abortion.
That’s unlikely to happen in New York, which has a Democratic governor and Democratic supermajorities in both legislative chambers. Advocates argue the amendment is still needed for backup in case power shifts in Albany and a Republican governor and GOP-led legislature try to pass laws to restrict abortion. The new wording in the constitution would stop them.
Opponents counter that a full GOP takeover is so unlikely that no amendment is needed to preserve abortion rights. They focus on other aspects of the proposal, warning it would grant legal rights to transgender children and undocumented immigrants that would have negative effects. (Advocates say those claims are baseless.)
How did the proposal come about?
A Democratic lawmaker from Manhattan began a push in 2019 to update the state’s 1938 equal rights amendment by adding new categories to be protected from discrimination, including national origin, sexual orientation and pregnancy. In June of that year, the Senate unanimously approved the proposal by Sen. Liz Krueger, but the Assembly never took it up.
Krueger’s bill was still pending in Albany in June 2022 when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. New York lawmakers had ended their annual session by then, but Gov. Kathy Hochul soon summoned them back to Albany to take up two bills: one responding to the abortion ruling, and another responding to a separate Supreme Court decision that struck down the state’s restrictions on carrying guns.
The response to the abortion ruling was a slightly modified version of Krueger’s Equal Rights Amendment.
Both chambers passed the bill and repeated its passage the following January, two days after the 50th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. (New York constitutional amendments must be passed twice by the legislature before being put to voters.) The bill set the referendum for the 2024 general election.
Who is campaigning for and against it?
A coalition of groups called New Yorkers for Equal Rights is leading the campaign to pass the amendment. Its members include the New York Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood, the NAACP, New Pride Agenda and the New York Immigration Coalition. As of mid-July, the campaign had reported $2.7 million in cash and in-kind contributions to make its case to voters.
A group called the Coalition to Protect Kids-NY is urging voters to oppose the amendment. It reported $275,000 in contributions as of mid-July.
Both sides have aired their views in recent newspaper op-ed columns.
“We are lucky to live in a state that has leadership committed to protecting our reproductive rights,” Attorney General Letitia James wrote in a USA Today Network column. “Now, we must make those protections permanent.”
John Faso, a former Republican congressman from the Hudson Valley who opposes the amendment, argued in an Albany Times Union column that it could give noncitizens the right to vote and children the ability to get gender-altering treatment without their parents’ consent.
“Prop 1 is a Trojan horse intended to sneak new and controversial ‘rights’ into the state constitution under the guise of protecting abortion,” Faso wrote. “The amendment is based on a lie, and it should be defeated.”
How will it read on the ballot?
Much like the amendment itself. Supporters tried in vain to get the terms “abortion” and “LGBTQ” added to the ballot question to make it easier to understand, arguing it was overly “legalistic” as written and may confuse voters. A state judge rejected that request in late August.
Wording worry: Abortion, LGBTQ rights are on NY ballots this fall. But will the wording confuse voters?
Prop 1 will be described on ballots as an “amendment to protect against unequal treatment.” Voters will be asked to vote “yes” or “no” on adding new protections to the constitution, which are worded as follows:
“This proposal would protect against unequal treatment based on ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, and sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity and pregnancy. It also protects against unequal treatment based onreproductive healthcare and autonomy.”
Where will it be placed on the ballot?
On the back. After marking their choices for president and other federal and state races on the front, voters must flip over their ballots to vote “yes” or “no” on the amendment.
Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA Today Network. Reach him at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: NY abortion, LGBTQ rights referendum: What to know about Prop 1
Amanda Smith is a dedicated U.S. correspondent with a passion for uncovering the stories that shape the nation. With a background in political science, she provides in-depth analysis and insightful commentary on domestic affairs, ensuring readers are well-informed about the latest developments across the United States.
