New York state officials on Monday rejected a request to add the words “abortion” and “LGBTQ” to a statewide ballot question to give voters a clear understanding of what they’re being asked to decide.
The state’s four election commissioners unanimously approved the final vote text of the Equal Rights Amendment, a proposal to add abortion and LGBTQ rights to the state constitution. They adopted the same language proposed by elections commission staff. The amendment itself uses terms like “consequences of pregnancy” and “gender identity” that supporters worry could obscure its meaning.
The committee had received a flood of requests for plainer language, including a letter sent last week from 31 Democratic state senators.
“At a time when abortion rights are at stake, voters must understand that Proposition 1 protects abortion rights in the state constitution,” they wrote, “but this important point may be lost without the word ‘abortion’ on the ballot.”
Similar requests came from Attorney General Letitia James and most of the more than 1,500 individuals and groups that submitted public comments, committee co-chair Henry Berger said before Monday’s vote. He acknowledged that the elections board could face legal action if it rejected those requests and said the final language could be decided by the courts.
“We are supporting this proposal because it is our duty,” he said, “but we understand that our word may not be the final say on the matter.”
A coalition of groups supporting the Proposition 1 amendment later criticized the decision but did not say whether they would file a lawsuit.
“The Commission has a mission to ensure that ordinary voters understand what they are voting for,” Sasha Ahuja, campaign director for the New York Equal Rights Campaign, said in a statement. “Proposition 1 was proposed to protect fundamental freedoms, including the right to abortion, and that should be clearly reflected and enshrined in the language on the ballot.”
What is the Equal Rights Amendment?
The proposition would expand New York State’s existing racial and religious discrimination prohibitions by adding a number of other protected categories, including sexual orientation, “reproductive health and autonomy,” national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, and pregnancy.
Supporters have promoted the bill as a way to protect abortion rights, enshrining the right to abortion in the Constitution to thwart future attempts to enact restrictions in Democratic-led states if Republicans take power. Lawmakers approved putting the measure on the ballot for the first time in 2022, just days after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned people’s right to abortion.
Opponents argue the amendment is unnecessary, could have unintended consequences and was put on the ballot this fall with an ulterior motive: to encourage voters to go to the polls and support Democratic candidates.
The lawsuit, led by a Republican female council member, had sought to block the referendum on procedural grounds — arguing that the Legislature prematurely voted on it in 2022 before hearing from the attorney general — but that case ended this month with a final ruling from the state appeals court.
Court battle: Plan to add abortion, LGBTQ rights to New York state constitution overturned, put back on ballot
At least five states – Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Nevada and South Dakota – will hold referendums on whether to add an abortion right to their constitutions on November 5. Two of the votes were initiated by citizen petitions to overturn South Dakota’s total ban, set in 2022 after a Supreme Court decision, and Florida’s ban after six weeks of pregnancy.
New York’s ballot question is more expansive and less specific about abortion than proposals in other states, but supporters say it carries the same weight and would protect abortion rights from efforts to restrict them through legislation.
“If the amendment is ratified, it is clear and there is no question that abortion will be protected,” Emma Ross, senior attorney at the advocacy group Pregnancy Justice, said in an interview Monday.
What are the opponents’ counterarguments?
In a statement opposing the amendment, a group representing New York’s Catholic bishops called it “unjust,” especially after the state passed a law in 2019 strengthening abortion rights.
“Unfortunately, this bill reinforces the message New York State has traditionally conveyed to women: that abortion is positive, empowering, and a key to success,” the New York State Catholic Conference wrote. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”
Organized opposition to the amendment focuses on aspects other than abortion rights.
The group behind the campaign, the Coalition to Protect Children, warns that banning discrimination on the basis of gender identity could allow children to undergo sex-reassignment treatment without parental consent. They also take issue with other parts of the bill, such as protecting citizenship rights, which could give voting rights to illegal immigrants.
Former Republican Rep. John Faso, who opposes the amendment, calls it a “Trojan horse for liberals disguised as abortion protection.”
“If the average New Yorker, regardless of party affiliation, knew what they were doing here, this would be a huge failure,” he said.
Supporters of the amendment argue the opposite: that abortion opponents are trying to discredit the amendment with unfounded concerns about transgender children and other issues.
“New Yorkers will not be fooled,” said Andrew Tavarite, a spokesman for the New York Civil Rights Campaign, “and they will see clearly that this is simply an attempt by anti-abortion politicians to use a small number of innocent children as political pawns to divide New Yorkers and distract from the purpose of this amendment: protecting abortion rights and guaranteeing individual liberty.”
Who pays for the PR campaign?
In the three months leading up to the November 5 vote, campaigning between those in favor and those against the amendment is sure to intensify.
The Coalition has received funding from Carol Crossed, a pro-life activist from the Rochester suburb of Brighton. Crossed, vice president of New York Feminists for Life, had donated $250,000 to the group as of mid-July out of a total of $275,000 in funding, according to state campaign finance records.
But that amount is small compared with the $2.7 million raised by the New York Civil Liberties Union, which gave $850,000 in cash and in-kind, various Planned Parenthood funds and affiliates, which gave more than $500,000, and the LJS Revocable Trust, a Tulsa, Oklahoma-based foundation, which gave $400,000.
Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and the USA Today Network. He can be reached at cmckenna@gannett.com.
