Proposed Constitutional Amendment: The So-Called “Equal Rights Amendment”

Partisan policymakers claim this amendment is needed to protect abortion rights in New York. This is not true. New York legalized abortion in 1970 and this law is not under any genuine threat of modification or repeal.

What Does it Say? The amendment’s broad language would create “new” constitutional rights.

Among these new “rights” are “gender identity” and “gender expression.” The language would cover all persons including minor children. If voters approve Prop 1 in November, it will grant minor children the right to medical transgender interventions without parental consent/ notification. Several laws currently under consideration in Albany would likewise not require parental consent such as treatment for STDs. European regulatory authorities have walked back initial policy recommendations for gender affirming care cautioning a far more conservative approach. Why has New York NOT learned from these experiences?

The NYS Department of Education released guidance in 2023 entitled “Creating a Safe, Supportive, and Affirming School Environment for Transgender and Gender Expansive Students”. Accordingly, a minor child will now decide if parents should be informed of their decision to transition and school administrators are not permitted to inform parents of their child’s desire to change genders.

Prop 1 would protect this and future laws now under consideration that would allow minor children to have medical procedures and receive medications without parental consent. Yet parents will remain legally responsible for managing the emotional consequences and physical side effects impacting their minor children.

Passage of Prop 1 will prohibit schools from barring biological males from participation on female sports teams, jeopardizing the fairness of such contests. Girls who are vying for athletic scholarships will be disadvantaged as a result. Prop 1 goes further than impacting school sports teams as it will disallow all single sex activities –in locker rooms, bathrooms, and sororities. Prop 1 would question the viability of single sex public or private education

Prop 1 will also govern free speech — for religious organizations and charitable groups providing medical, educational, and other services including adoptions and foster care. Multiple reports exist from other states where children are being denied to loving foster care parents because of the parents’ religious beliefs on gender expression and other faith-based teachings.

Governor Hochul and the legislature enacted a law to protect minors from abuse on social media. Yet she is a proponent of Prop 1. Why? Because by falsely portraying abortion rights as under threat, there will be enhanced voter turnout for their side – and at the cost of our kids.

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