New York State voters passed a constitutional amendment aimed at protecting abortion rights and protecting the LGBTQ+ community from discrimination on Tuesday night, according to an Associated Press projection.The amendment, formally named Proposition 1, is also called the Equal Rights Amendment. The New York State Legislature previously passed abortion access and anti-discrimination legislation against LGBTQ+, but Prop 1 will make abortion access a right in the New York State Constitution, supporters say.“Tonight, New Yorkers stood up for women and LGBT, immigrant, and disabled New Yorkers by approving the most progressive and comprehensive state Equal Rights Amendment in the country,” Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties union, said in a statement. “With this vote, New York enshrines the right to abortion in the New York State Constitution and expands anti-discrimination protections to those who have been excluded for far too long.“This vote is a rejection of a regressive national movement to roll back our hard-won freedoms that has gained (steam) in other states. New Yorkers resoundingly said ‘hell no, not here’ to abortion bans and attacks on immigrants and trans people. What’s more, New Yorkers strengthened our rights and freedoms in the face of a multi-million-dollar opposition campaign financed by right-wing, anti-abortion, out-of-state billionaires who peddled fear and lies.”The NYCLU donated more than $1 million to advocate for Prop 1, according to state campaign finance data.Before getting on the ballot, Prop 1 had to be passed by two different sessions of the New York State Legislature and reviewed by the New York State Attorney General. Both houses of the state legislature passed Prop 1 in 2022 and 2024. Because the proposition passed, the process to repeal the amendment will be more arduous. Abortions are legal through the first 26 weeks of a pregnancy in New York, but repealing the state law that guarantees abortion access would only require majority votes of the New York State Legislature’s two houses. Conservatives and Republicans across the state have campaigned against Prop 1 because they believe the amendment would prevent local governments from banning trans athletes from playing sports, New York State Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay said in an interview with Central Current. Barclay also contended that Prop 1 will lead to an increase in trans girls playing youth sports.  What is Prop 1? New York’s Equal Rights Amendment is on the ballot this year The Coalition to Protect Kids New York, a committee that fundraised to defeat Prop 1, nicknamed the ERA the “parent replacement act.” Sash Silvera, a spokesperson for the group, said she is concerned Prop 1 would allow transgender children to receive gender-affirming surgeries without parental consent. Naomi Young, a policy associate with the Equal Rights Amendment Project at Columbia Law School, said the use of “parents’ rights” is meant to invoke backlash in response to equality movements, citing its use in response to desegregation.Minors are differently positioned to constitutional rights and the amendment would not change parents’ fundamental rights, said Kathrine Bodde, a lawyer with the New York Civil Liberties Union. The concerns publicized by opponents over the amendment are “thinly veiled anti-abortion tactics” and “fear-mongering” to divide and confuse voters, said Bodde. The Coalition to Protect Kids New York received more than $500,000 in contributions, though $400,000 of that total came from one woman, according to state campaign finance data. The donor, Carol N. Crossed, once bought Susan B. Anthony’s childhood home in Massachusetts and preserved it as a museum, according to a report from RochesterFirst.com. She is also the vice president of Feminists Choosing Life New York.New Yorkers for Equal Rights, which has campaigned for the ERA, received more than $5.1 million in donations. One of its biggest donors was the New York Civil Liberties Union, which donated more than $1 million, state campaign finance data shows. The post New York state voters pass constitutional amendment that could protect abortion rights, AP projects appeared first on Central Current.