Vote ‘Yes’ to safeguard our fundamental rights

As a longtime champion of women’s rights, I know from firsthand experience that any effort to advance equality for all is always met by misinformation. The fight for Prop 1, the New York Equal Rights Amendment, is no different. This amendment will provide essential safeguards for our fundamental rights, including putting the right to abortion in our state constitution. At a time when access to reproductive care is under attack across the country, New Yorkers must vote Yes on Prop 1 to protect our rights and freedoms from changing political tides.

Despite what the opposition claims, Prop 1 is about abortion and our fundamental rights. The amendment will enshrine access to abortion and all reproductive health care in our state constitution. Our state government will be prohibited from passing laws, policies or regulations that create barriers to abortion, birth control, IVF, or other essential health care.

Prop 1 will also ensure that all New Yorkers will be treated fairly by updating our state constitution to match current state law. The amendment will protect us all New Yorkers from government discrimination based on their gender, age, disability, pregnancy status, ethnicity, national origin or whether they’re LGBT. While these categories are protected against discrimination by New York law, our state constitution only provides protections based on race and religion. This means that many of our neighbors are left without constitutional protections against unequal treatment by the government, which is unacceptable.

For the opposing viewpoint see: Vote ‘No’ on the New York ERA

This commonsense effort to update our state constitution to match current laws has given rise to a misinformation campaign funded and driven by the anti-abortion movement. They are using every trick in the book to divide voters and distract us from what Prop 1 is about: protecting abortion access and fundamental rights and freedoms from government interference.

Simply put, the anti-abortion extremists do not want Prop 1 to pass because they do not want abortion protected by the state constitution. But they know that the majority of New Yorkers support access to all reproductive care and believe strongly that all people should be treated equally under the law. Instead, they are spreading lies about what Prop 1 will do in order to get New Yorkers to vote against their own interests—straight out of the playbook they have used to try to defeat abortion access ballot measures in other states.

The opposition is trying to trick voters into believing that Prop 1 will allow minors to get irreversible medical procedures without their parents’ consent, eliminate single-sex sports teams and locker rooms, allow children to buy alcohol and create new benefits for noncitizens. These absurd claims are absolutely false, and they know it.

Let’s take a look at the opposition’s claims on age restrictions. Right now, the New York State Constitution doesn’t prohibit age-based discrimination. That leaves our seniors vulnerable—and Prop 1 would close that loophole. For example, Prop 1 will prevent public-sector employers from discriminating against older New Yorkers when it comes to hiring, promotions, and pay, and it will ensure that voting and use of public spaces and facilities are accessible to seniors. Prop 1 will not do away with senior housing. In fact, just the opposite: Prop 1 is consistent with federal and state laws that provide resources and services to support seniors’ needs, safeguard their well-being and prevent elder abuse.

As for the opposition’s claims on age restrictions for things like driving, making medical decisions without their parents’ consent, and buying alcohol and firearms, Prop 1 does not change current law—nor will it lead to absurd results. Courts are well-versed in how to manage these kinds of questions and have consistently rejected extreme interpretations. Even in states like Louisiana and New Mexico, where age discrimination is explicitly prohibited by their state constitutions, courts have ruled against attempts to challenge the minimum age to drive or purchase alcohol or guns. The courts have rightfully acknowledged the government’s ability to create rules that further public health and safety.

The opposition is also claiming that access to abortion is safe in New York, so we have nothing to worry about. That is exactly what they said about Roe v Wade. In the two years since Roe was struck down, nearly half the states in the country have adopted abortion bans and more than one in three American women have lost the fundamental right to control their own bodies, lives and futures. This isn’t just a national problem, it’s a New York one as well. We have candidates and elected officials trying to roll back our access—and we can’t let that happen.

We need Prop 1 to put the rights that New Yorkers already have in the state constitution so they cannot be rolled back in the future. Political winds can and do shift. It is imperative that New Yorkers realize that under different state leadership, our reproductive rights and freedoms could be severely restricted if we don’t pass Prop 1.

New Yorkers can see right through the opposition’s tricks. We all deserve to have a state constitution that reflects our values and protects all of our rights. It’s time we step up to the plate and make that happen by flipping our ballot over this November and voting Yes on Prop 1.

Barbara Grosh is president of the League of Women Voters of the Rochester Metro Area.

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