The only proposal on the 2024 New York state ballot is an amendment to protect against unequal treatment. Prop 1, also referred to as the Equal Rights Amendment Act, would expand legal protection against discrimination based on ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, gender identity and expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes and reproductive autonomy.

Caitlin Hunter, community organizer for Planned Parenthood’s region three, which includes Ithaca, said she has worked with local politicians on establishing legislative protections for LGBTQ+ individuals in Ithaca. Hunter said she thinks it is important for citizens to vote for Prop 1 because national abortion rights are no longer guaranteed by the federal constitution since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.

“The important thing to remember is that resolutions and laws can be overturned by whoever’s in power,” Hunter said. “When rights are cemented into our state constitution, it has more permanence and is harder to change, and that’s why we are working so hard to get this passed.”

If passed, this would be the first time discrimination against pregnancy or pregnancy outcomes would be explicitly defined as sex discrimination and protected against by a state constitution, according to an article from NYCLU.

In 2017, Nevada adopted an amendment to its state Constitution that outlawed discrimination on the basis of sex and in 2022, it ratified an expansion of the ERA to ensure equal rights on the basis of race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, ancestry and national origin. Neither of the amendments included protections against sex discrimination based on pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes.

Prop 1 was passed by the state Senate and Assembly in two consecutive sessions in July 2022 and January 2023. In May 2024, a state Supreme Court Justice ordered that it be removed, citing that Democrats had made errors during the process of adding the ERA to the ballot, according to a New York Times article. A New York appeals court heard the case and a panel of judges said those who filed to block the ERA missed the deadline to bring a lawsuit. Prop 1 was put back on the ballot in June.

According to a study from the Pew Research Center, 64% of the New Yorkers surveyed support abortion rights in all or most cases. First-year student Ana Kirsch said that even though New York largely supports abortion rights, she is concerned about the issue.

“I think that there’s a very real possibility that things like this could be taken away,” Kirsch said. “So it makes me feel safer to have something like this on the ballot to kind of reinsure that things like that, like reproductive health, won’t be taken away.”

Tompkins County Legislator Mike Sigler said Democrats are using the abortion issue on the amendment to push other agendas.

“No Republican in the state legislature is testing a change to [abortion] right now,” Sigler said. “And yet, they’ve attached a bunch of other things to it, like allowing boys into girls sports that a lot of people don’t support.”

Republicans have also claimed that Prop 1 would allow for minors to receive gender-affirming care without the need for their parents to give consent, calling it the “Parent Replacement Act,” according to an article from the New York Times.

Linda Hoffmann, chair of the Tompkins County Democratic Committee, said these arguments do not accurately represent what the goal of the proposal is.

“People … in the opposition … feel that the amendment will allow minors to consent to a gender-affirming surgery [without parental approval],” Hoffman said. “That’s what we hear from the opposition, and those particular claims are very false. … We do not want politicians controlling our rights and what we are entitled to. And this is extremely important across the board for all people in our county.”

According to the New York Board of Elections, there is no mention of gender affirming surgery or parental approval in the amendment. The amendment will provide equal protection to trans people under law, but does not have any language about increasing minors’ privileges or taking away parental rights.

Kirsch said she feels reproductive rights might be so hard to guarantee because the opposition can overshadow the majority support.

“I think because the people that vote against it are so much louder in their opinions … [it] makes it a lot harder to hear the people that are for it … and that’s all the media talks about,” Kirsch said.

Hoffman said voters need to be made aware about Prop 1, and this can be done through simple reminders.

“In our particular county … poll workers will hand you your ballot in a folder. They will state to you there are two sides to your ballot, [so reminding people] they need to turn it over is very important,” Hoffman said.

Hunter said the most important aspect of Prop 1 is simply guaranteeing rights for as many people as possible.

“The key piece here is that it’s talking about protecting New Yorkers against state government discrimination,” Hunter said. “So in New York State, this moment is really important to protect all New Yorkers, no matter who you are, where you come from, who you love. This is the chance to protect them from government discrimination, because nobody should be discriminated against.”

Staff writer Eamon Corbo contributed reporting.