Abortion rights in New York State are protected, however not assured. New York voters can repair that by turning their ballots over and voting for Proposition 1.
An abortion rights activist holds an indication close to the doorway to the Deliberate Parenthood clinic on in New York Metropolis in February 2024.
(Robert Nickelsberg / Getty Pictures)
I’m a proud New Yorker, a mother of two women, and the president of Deliberate Parenthood Motion Fund. I’ve spent this election cycle touring the nation to mobilize voters in help of reproductive rights champions and important poll measures that can defend reproductive freedom.
Each time I land in a brand new state, I’ve a special set of rights.
Since Roe v. Wade was overturned — leaving the appropriate to manage our personal our bodies as much as the states — 21 states have imposed extreme restrictions or outright bans on abortion. Forty-three p.c of girls of reproductive age in America stay in considered one of these states. Due to courageous people sharing tales in regards to the worst experiences of their lives and thru dogged investigative reporting, we now know the various methods wherein the lives of girls, trans and nonbinary folks have been upended, endangered, and even misplaced due to abortion bans which have made being pregnant extra harmful.
Whereas People have lengthy prided themselves on our inalienable rights and freedom, how can we probably name ourselves a free nation when so many will not be free?
During the last two years, state constitutional amendments have grow to be a crucial instrument for restoring, shielding, and increasing abortion entry. Handed by way of poll measure, these amendments have allowed voters from Kansas to Ohio to California to Vermont to ensure abortion rights — in some instances to overturn or stop bans enacted by state legislatures, in others to strengthen entry. This election, 10 states will vote on such amendments, together with proper right here at residence in New York.
New York has a well-earned status as a protected haven for abortion care, however it wasn’t till 2019 that the New York legislature handed the Reproductive Well being Act. Its passage was solely made potential by the 2018 election, which put abortion rights champions in command of the state legislature for the primary time in almost a decade. Prior efforts to go comparable laws have been blocked repeatedly. In the meantime, in 2022, a staunchly anti-abortion candidate, who stated he would appoint an anti-abortion state commissioner, got here inside six factors of being governor — the most important rightward shift of any state within the nation within the final cycle.
Present Situation
Whereas our rights in New York are at the moment protected, they aren’t assured. Sure, even in New York.
Fortunately, this election cycle, New Yorkers have a chance to enshrine reproductive rights, together with abortion, in our state structure with Proposal 1. Prop 1 prohibits discrimination on the premise of intercourse and defines “intercourse” to incorporate being pregnant, being pregnant outcomes, and reproductive well being care and autonomy. With Prop 1 within the structure, New York can not go legal guidelines, insurance policies, or rules that ban or create boundaries to abortion, contraception, IVF, or different types of reproductive well being care.
Prop 1 will defend clinics that present important companies, together with in rural areas the place entry is already restricted. And it’ll stop the criminalization of those that expertise miscarriage or stillbirth, guaranteeing that sufferers obtain the care they want — not the prosecution we’ve seen in different states.
This modification additionally closes loopholes within the state structure to make sure that no New Yorker may be discriminated in opposition to by the federal government primarily based on gender, age, incapacity, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. Final, as a result of Prop 1 amends the state structure, the measure means our rights can by no means be rolled again by elected officers.
What’s thrilling about this modification is that it additionally offers New Yorkers the prospect to affix the refrain of different states in laying the groundwork for restoring sturdy, nationwide rights for the remainder of the nation.
We owe it to ourselves, all sufferers, all New Yorkers, and everybody on this nation to combat for freedom and justice. On or earlier than November 5, keep in mind to flip your poll over and vote sure on Prop 1 and sure to freedom — our rights and our futures, and that of our kids, rely on it.
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