New Yorkers may change their constitution to ban discrimination over ‘pregnancy outcomes’
A final vote on an amendment to New York’s constitution, which would ban discrimination based upon “gender identities” and “pregnancy results” is scheduled for Tuesday. There has been debate about how it could affect future transgender and abortion rights.
Equal Rights Amendment (also known as Proposition 1) is a controversial issue that has divided supporters and opponents.
New York’s Constitution currently prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, religion or creed. The amendment would include language that states someone cannot be denied their civil rights due to their nationality, age, disability or sexual orientation.
In an election year when the U.S. House races of New York may determine which party controls Congress, Democratic leaders placed the amendment on the ballot in part to encourage voters who are passionate about protecting access to abortion.
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On Tuesday, several other states will also be voting on constitutional amendments relating to abortion. The majority of these ballot questions deal directly with the issue of when abortion should be legal. In New York, however, lawmakers took a more indirect approach by writing the amendment in the form of an anti-discrimination measure.
Democrats who support this amendment argue that the new language will create a legal environment where any restrictions to abortion would be a form of unconstitutional discrimination within medical care. New York City Bar Association and other legal experts have agreed with this assessment.
The fact that the amendment does not mention the word “abortion” has still caused some confusion among its supporters. The other language used by opponents was also a way to accuse them of unintended effects.
Republicans have launched a powerful messaging campaign against this amendment. They chose not to focus on the protections that it could provide for abortion but instead targeted other parts of the proposal. The Republicans’ main argument is that the amendment will give transgender athletes a constitutional right to play for girls’ teams.
Some have also claimed that the language regarding national origin could allow noncitizens to vote. They also claim that age discrimination could be removed from discounts for seniors.
In previous state court rulings, it was found that the existing state constitution prohibits non-citizens to vote. The New York City Bar Association also says that the amendment will not affect state laws that require parental consent for medical care of a child.
In New York, there are legal battles underway over whether or not state and federal laws allow transgender individuals to play sports teams that match their gender identity.
After the Supreme Court of the United States overturned Roe v. Wade, Democrats in the state legislator voted to place the amendment on 2024’s ballot. Previous elections have seen voters in other countries support abortion access. A recent Associated Press/NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey found that seven out of ten Americans believe abortion should be legalized in all or the majority of cases.
The uncertainty over the New York Amendment’s impact on the abortion issue was so pronounced that even the state Board of Elections threw up their hands. The state Board of Elections is responsible for drafting simple explanations about proposed amendments, which voters will see in their ballots. The board chose to repeat the language of the amendment verbatim, rather than interpreting the measure or including the word abortion.
The amendment was opposed by those who supported it, and they filed a lawsuit. However, the judge, David A. Weinstein declined to order the board to rewrite the description because he couldn’t be sure how the courts would interpret its language.
New York allows abortions up to 24 weeks after the start of pregnancy. Abortion is legal in New York up to 24 weeks after the beginning of pregnancy, but only if there is a risk to the life, health, or mental well-being of the pregnant woman, or if medical providers determine that the fetus cannot survive outside the uterus. Viability is the term that health care providers use to determine whether or not a pregnancy will continue to develop normally, and whether a fetus may survive outside of the uterus.
New York’s state government is firmly controlled by Democrats, so any further restrictions on abortion are unlikely to be implemented in the near term.
The proposal’s supporters argue that, if it passes, the amendment would create in New York a layer of strong abortion protections that future legislators would find difficult to repeal. This is because New York requires that the legislature pass a constitutional amendment two times before it can be submitted to voters.
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