With the election fast approaching, ballot watchers around the United States are monitoring all of the latest additions being made as activists in multiple states are pushing additional measures meant to drive their agendas forward. One such proposal has shown up in the State of New York, where an amendment carrying the relatively banal name of Proposal 1 will appear on voters' ballots. It's being billed as the "New York Equal Rights Amendment," and it is described as a "sweeping expansion of the state's equal-protection clause." It's being hailed as a move to expand protection of a variety of demographic groups for medical "services" with a focus on abortion access. But as usual, the devil is in the details, and it does so much more than that. (National Review)

Proposal 1, otherwise known as the New York Equal Rights Amendment, will be on the statewide ballot this cycle, giving voters the chance to decide on a sweeping expansion of the state constitution’s equal-protection clause that would add a variety of demographic groups and allow progressives to pursue their aims through exhaustive future litigation.

The ballot proposition would add “ethnicity, national origin, age, disability” and “sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy” to the language of section 11 of article I of the New York state constitution. 

By doing so, New York would codify the most extreme elements of left-wing gender ideology into its constitution, weakening the rights of parents to protect their children from harmful transgender medical interventions, among other consequences. 

Since this is New York we're talking about, one might wonder just how much more "protection" could be offered in terms of abortion access. Abortion is already legal in virtually every avenue possible in the Empire State. There are already programs in place allowing women to receive free abortions if they cannot afford one or don't wish to pay for it. You can get free transportation to and from the clinic performing the procedure. State clinics offer free abortion pills to virtually anyone who asks. So how much more could this "right" be expanded?

In this case, it's not a question of which services are being offered, but rather who they are offered to. Following in the footsteps of the Biden administration, these services will be offered to virtually anyone, including children, with or without parental consent. And the "protections" cover all surgical procedures that might impact such services in any way, including transgender surgery.

“Any statutory requirements that exist in state law that require parental consent for medical procedures for a minor, those are going to be overridden by this new constitutional right,” said John Faso, a former Republican congressman from New York who remains active in state politics.

This change will effectively cancel out nearly all parental rights, allowing puberty blockers to be administered to children of either gender with or without the parents' consent or even knowledge. It will even bleed over into a requirement to allow underage male athletes to compete in girls' sports leagues. What that could possibly have to do with abortion access is never explained.

The amendment will also undercut efforts to enforce illegal immigration laws. Discrimination based on citizenship status will be deemed discriminatory, moving illegal migrants into yet another protected class of residents despite their lack of citizenship. So even if ICE manages to track someone down and seeks too have them removed from the country, they merely have to show up with a positive pregnancy test or a diagnosis of being transgender and they will immediately be covered as a protected class and protected against law enforcement proceedings.

This represents yet another threat posed by an uninformed populace that doesn't fully read all of the details of the ballot initiatives they sign off on when they go to vote. Progressives will simply see a title suggesting expanded abortion access to minority classes and think... "why not?" And before you know it, the change has been cemented into the state's legal codes. This is just another friendly reminder that you need to fully read the proposals you're voting for. They may include some unpleasant surprises that will prove almost impossible to undo once they are in place.