Women’s Rights Awareness Campaign of LWVSC
March 5, 2024

The right to an abortion will be directly on the ballot in New York State in November 2024.
Wait! Abortion is legal in New York! So, what’s the big deal?

Abortion was legal in Alabama until it wasn’t. Alabama is one of the states that does not have
constitutional protection for women’s bodily autonomy. New York does not have
constitutional protection either. Which means the right to an abortion could be rescinded.

The good news? You can ensure that protection for yourself, your daughters and your
granddaughters by voting yes to the proposed amendment that will be on the ballot in the Fall
of 2024. If passed, it will be an amendment to the NYS Constitution.

The upcoming referendum would amend the New York Constitution and is essentially a legal
umbrella protecting marginalized New Yorkers from being subjected to any discrimination
because of race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, creed, religion, or sex,
including sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes,
and reproductive healthcare and autonomy.

It’s especially crucial to protect reproductive rights at a time when draconian anti-choice
measures have been passed by several states following the Dobbs decision. Fourteen states
have imposed a total abortion ban—meaning terminations are never allowed in the cases of
rape, incest, lack of fetal viability or danger to the mother.

The consequences are horrifying. In the months between July 2022 and January 2024, nearly
65,000 women became pregnant through rape just in those 14 states (source: Journal of the
American Medical Society).

Low income women have been impacted the most by the overturning of Roe v Wade, since
they are the least able to afford to go to another state for care. State Attorneys General in the
14 states are even threatening to go after women who cross state lines for abortions, using
period-tracking apps, and email exchanges and travel reservations as a digital trail. Besides
violating the right to privacy and the right to bodily autonomy, this Big-Brother approach is
unethical. And chilling.

That’s why it’s imperative that you vote yes for the New York State Equal Rights Amendment.
On the November ballot, New Yorkers will have the opportunity to help protect the state’s
women and families where the Federal Government has so far failed.
Besides voting, you can also help the cause by signing the petition for a Federal Equal Rights
Amendment: https://www.sign4era.org.