The New York Equal Rights Amendment, which would broadly prohibit discriminatory conduct by the state government, is back on New York’s November ballot after being restored by a state appeals court.
The amendment, which includes provisions enshrining a woman’s right to an abortion and forbidding discrimination based on gender identity, had been tossed off the ballot last month by state Supreme Court Justice Daniel J. Doyle, who ruled the State Legislature had improperly placed the amendment on the ballot without first getting a required sign-off by state Attorney General Letitia James, who appealed the ruling.
On Tuesday, a state appellate court ruled in favor of James, finding the plaintiffs — Republican Assemblymember Marjorie Byrnes and two private citizens — had also failed to complete a procedural item, namely that they had waited too long to file suit.
“Today’s decision to put the Equal Rights Amendment back on the ballot in November is a huge victory in our efforts to protect our basic rights and freedoms,” James said in a statement. “The ERA was advanced to protect access to abortion care, enshrine this basic right in our constitution, and protect people from discrimination. We will continue to do everything in our power to protect these rights and ensure everyone can live safely and freely in the great State of New York.”
New York already has some of the strongest abortion rights law on the books of any state. But in the wake of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Supreme Court decision overturning the constitutional right to an abortion, ERA advocates say the amendment would protect New York’s status as a beacon of reproductive rights even under future administrations that are potentially hostile to them.
Planned Parenthood of Greater New York, for instance, notes the amendment could prohibit future administrations from banning abortions, banning Medicaid or private insurance from funding abortions, criminalizing miscarriages, or adding “medically unnecessary burdens” on those seeking reproductive care.
Meanwhile, the amendment could protect trans New Yorkers from the kind of culture war policies that had until recently largely eluded the Empire State.
Earlier this year, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican, signed an order barring trans athletes from competing in sports matching their gender identity, a move that has been widely condemned by state Democrats and which is currently unenforceable after a court ruling. Meanwhile, parents have attempted to proceed with similar moves in school districts even in the most liberal parts of Manhattan.
