On the back of every ballot in New York State is Proposal Number One, an amendment to the state Constitution. The Daily News recommends a Yes vote, but what exactly is being voted on is part of the issue. There is confusion as to what the amendment does and what it doesn’t do. It is meant to protect abortion rights in New York, but doesn’t say the word “abortion.” The opposition claims that the amendment’s wording about “gender identity and gender expression” will lead to the end of women’s sports and men using the girls bathrooms in elementary schools. That’s just garbage, but it may successfully play on fears. The problem is how the amendment was crafted by the Legislature. A judge ruled that the ballot wording hue closely to the proposed actual text: “This proposal would protect against unequal treatment based on ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, and sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity and pregnancy. It also protects against unequal treatment based on reproductive healthcare and autonomy.” The proponents call it the Equal Rights Amendment, but the real ERA, modifying the U.S. Constitution, that was passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification, is very simple: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” The proponents also say this amendment is meant to protect abortion in the state Constitution, however it doesn’t use the word “abortion.” Since the U.S. Supreme Court wrongly overturned Roe v. Wade in 2002, six states have had constitutional amendments on their ballots explicitly mentioning abortion. In all six states, the pro-choice position won. This fall, there are nine more states with similar plebiscites. Again, they use the word “abortion.” The fault here is the Democratic-run Legislature in Albany, which wrote the amendment with vagueness. Advocates say that this is the ideal language about abortion and pregnancy, but does that mean that every other state, all 15 of them, from California to Ohio and from Florida to South Dakota, got it wrong and only New York State has it correct? With our Legislature’s horrible track record, we more than doubt it. Like most New Yorkers, The News supports the pro-choice position and we hope the amendment passes. But its lack of specificity will leave its interpretation open to the courts much more than the direct approach in all those other states. The transgender fears are just that, fears. There is no plot against women’s sport or girl’s lavatories. But again, this should have a straightforward up or down vote on abortion after the high court’s Dobbs ruling, one that New York’s pro-choice majority would readily approve. But the Legislature didn’t do that and now voters are confused, as they have a right to be. Vote Yes on Proposal 1. If it passes, there will be lawsuits due its mushy language and hopefully the judges will get it right. If it fails, don’t blame the voters, blame the Legislature. Then propose a new amendment that mirrors what every other state has done. That will pass without confusion.