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Will Prop 1 protect New Yorkers’ abortion rights under Trump? To a point.
By
Brigid Bergin
Published Nov 8, 2024
Modified Nov 8, 2024
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Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
By
Brigid Bergin
Published Nov 8, 2024
Modified Nov 8, 2024
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On the same day voters across the country elected Republican Donald Trump to serve another term in the White House, New York voters approved a ballot measure by more than 20 percentage points that adds abortion rights and new anti-discrimination protections to the state constitution. Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul called it, “one very bright glimmer of hope.”
“This amendment firmly establishes that reproductive freedom is an important value worth fighting for and worth protecting,” Hochul said Wednesday.
Supporters call it the New York Equal Rights Amendment, and argue it will serve as a backstop against future state legislative or executive actions aimed at rolling back reproductive rights and discrimination protections. But with Trump as president, Republicans winning the U.S. Senate and possibly the U.S. House of Representatives, those same supporters acknowledge these protections will only go so far in the face of federal action.
“Prop 1 is a bulwark against any New York politician getting in between New Yorkers and our equal rights,” said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the NYCLU. But, she added, "If in fact there were a national abortion ban, it would be very difficult for us to protect New Yorkers against it."
State Sen. Liz Krueger, the amendment’s lead sponsor, first introduced it in 2022 in the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. The goal, she has said, was to make it harder for a future legislature or governor to repeal New York’s existing state laws that guarantee access to abortion up to 24 weeks and ban different forms of discrimination.
At the same time, Krueger acknowledged that if Congress were to pass a federal abortion ban, and the president were to sign it, it would upend this state constitutional protection.
If that were to happen, Krueger said she expects it to be met with, “organized and multistate, coordinated efforts” to fight such measures. Ten states including New York have added abortion protections to their state constitutions in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision, which struck down a federal right to abortion.
In that ruling, the Supreme Court majority framed it as a states’ rights issue.
“So hypothetically, depending on what were to pass Congress and how it’s worded, there might be legal opportunities for states to push back through that same federal court," she said.
In New York’s case, the amendment’s wording adds new language to the state constitution’s equal protection clause prohibiting discrimination against, “ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive health care and autonomy.”
In the lead up to Election Day, a costly fight broke out over the ballot measure. Opponents backed by deep-pocketed right leaning benefactors spent more than $8 million on a campaign against it. Their pitch echoed a national campaign against transgender rights, warning of the risk it posed to kids' athletics. Lawn signs sprouted across the state that read, “Protect girls' sports.”
Krueger said she was “offended at my core” that opponents targeted transgender children in their fight against the ballot measure.
“Really their target was abortion, but they instead turned it into terror on behalf of families that suddenly their girls sports teams wouldn’t continue or will be inundated by transgender children,” said Krueger.
She noted that under the state’s Human Rights Law and GENDA, the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act, there are already schools with policies that allow children to participate in sports teams based on their gender identity. “And guess what? I don’t think the world ended.”
The campaign in support of Proposition 1 spent just over $5 million after a final cash infusion in response to the opposition movement. Krueger said she thought it was reassuring that more New Yorkers still backed the measure even though her side was outspent and it reinforced the need for more states to modernize the language in their state constitutions.
For Sasha Ahuja, campaign director for New Yorkers for Equal Rights, working to get this measure over the finish line meant drawing together a grassroots coalition representing labor unions, reproductive health, immigrants' rights, LGBTQ+ rights and more.
“We secured the strongest possible protections for all of those communities who are going to bear the brunt of a Trump administration and a Republican Senate,” said Ahuja. She said their successful campaign also showed that they could win on the abortion issue without leaving any community behind.
“We're proud that we did what needed to be done prior to this election,” said Ahuja. “And it's time to take a beat, but wake back up and get ready to fight, because we are needed now more than ever.”
Update: This story has been updated to include final Proposition 1 campaign spending numbers provided after publication.
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Politics
Brigid Bergin
Brigid Bergin is an award-winning senior reporter on the People and Power desk. She is fiercely committed to telling stories that help people engage and support democracy. In 2022, she hosted a live, ten-week call-in politics show ahead of the midterm elections called The People's Guide to Power. Brigid's reporting in 2017 included some of the first coverage of a political newcomer now known as AOC. In 2016, she broke the news of a voter purge in Brooklyn just days before New York’s presidential primary, triggering city, state and federal investigations. Brigid also guest hosts The Brian Lehrer Show and All Of It. She graduated from the University at Albany and the CUNY Newmark School of Journalism. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-723-4719.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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