Prop One debate split on party lines

ALBANY — Dutchess County voters will have one statewide measure on the back of their ballots on Election Day: an amendment to the state constitution listed as “Prop. One” and commonly known as the equal rights amendment.

Prop One amends the anti-discrimination section of the state constitution, codifying protections for “ethnicity, national origin, age, disability ... or sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy.”

New York Democrats have widely touted the measure as a key protection for abortion, while Republicans have slammed the measure, calling it a trojan horse that does little to specifically address abortion rights in the state.

Albany Law assistant professor Dale Cecka has spent her professional career in family law with an academic focus on the constitutional rights of parents. She said the New York GOP’s claims that the amendment would allow non-citizens to vote in the state and strip parent’s rights are false and have no basis in the text of the amendment.

“It’s largely symbolic,” Cecka said. “It doesn’t create any new rights.” She explained that the text of this amendment creates some useful redundancy and clear direction for state courts, but doesn’t expand on existing anti-discriminatory statutes like the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964, which already federally prohibits discrimination based on ethnicity and national origin.

She also said that, in New York, existing abortion protections and protections against sex- and gender-based discrimination already secure the right to an abortion in the state. This amendment to the state constitution simply adds one more layer of legal protection to prevent the government from future action that may infringe on those rights.

Prop. One will appear on the back of Dutchess County ballots. Voters can read the full text of the proposition online at elections.ny.gov/2024-statewide-ballot-proposal.