New Yorkers Pass Historic Amendment To Expand Protections For Pregnant People
New Yorkers voted on Tuesday to expand protections for pregnant people and safeguard abortion care from future attacks.
Voters successfully passed Proposition 1, which changes the states Equal Rights Amendment to include protections for pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy. Its the first time an equal rights clause has been expanded to include pregnant people and pregnancy outcomes.
This constitutionalizes protections for abortion in an equality framework, Katharine Bodde, interim co-director of policy at the ACLU of New York, told HuffPost last week.
Although Prop. 1 does not explicitly use the term abortion, including protections for pregnancy outcomes and reproductive decisions in the state constitution further protects abortion. The term pregnancy outcomes includes live birth, miscarriage, stillbirth and abortion care, policy experts told HuffPost. It will also add constitutional protections for birth control and in vitro fertilization, both of which have been under threat from anti-abortion Republicans across the country.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/new-york-protect-pregnant-people-amendment-passes_n_671bebc5e4b0aa35532ea7fe?71b