Don’t Pull A Pelosi On Prop One

[[{“value”:”

Earlier this week, Jason J. McGuire, executive director of New York Families Foundation, was a guest on WDCX’s Neil Boron Live. The topic was New York Families’ opposition to Proposal One, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). You will see this proposed constitutional amendment on the back of your General Election ballot. Before you vote, please give the interview a listen here.

New York Families is urging a “no” vote on the ERA for many reasons, including that it is vague and unclear. As Albany Law School Professor of Law J. Stephen Clark notes, if the ERA is passed, it will remain vague until the courts give it meaning. But, if the ERA is written so vaguely, why would anyone vote for it? Voters should know what they’re voting for before they cast their ballot, not leave it up to the courts to determine later.

The ERA could be used as a basis for court challenges to existing laws. For example:

The ERA’s vague definition of “sex” makes it impossible to know what [the ERA] means for same sex schools that may want to limit their attendance to biological sex. This vagueness could invite a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of single-sex schools.

What about faith-based schools? Will they have to allow male students who identity as female access to girls’ restrooms, locker rooms and other safe spaces?

In sports, will female athletes have to compete against male athletes that are more dominant in size and strength? Will female athletes lose out on not only the trophies, but also scholarships to male athletes? 

The courts might find that faith-based hospitals should be forced to perform medical procedures that violate their own beliefs. If a Catholic hospital doesn’t want to perform abortions, too bad. If a Baptist hospital doesn’t want to perform so-called “sex-change” surgeries, oh well. 

If the ERA were passed, New York’s Reproductive Health Act (RHA)—which does not protect the right to an abortion after 24 weeks’ gestation unless an unborn baby is not viable or an abortion is needed to protect a pregnant mother’s life or health—could be held unconstitutional on the grounds that the RHA’s 24-week limit violates the ERA’s ban on “reproductive autonomy” discrimination. Approving the ERA could invite a court challenge that—if successful—would leave New York without any limits whatsoever on late-term abortion.

The ERA’s ban on age discrimination would create a troublesome matter for courts deciding legal questions surrounding parental rights versus rights minors may want to assert or the government may want to grant. Such purported “rights” for minors might include anything from a “right” to body piercing to a “right” to undergo so-called sex reassignment surgery or other “gender-affirming” procedures.

In a different context, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) once infamously said, “We have to pass the bill, so you can find out what is in it.” Whether the issue at hand is Obamacare or Proposal One, this is no way to make policy. Amendments to the New York State Constitution should not be so vague and unclear that New Yorkers have to wait years for the courts to let us know how those amendments will be applied and how they will affect our lives.

Because the ERA could endanger unborn children, students and athletes, parental rights, and religious liberty, New York Families Foundation staunchly opposes it. When you vote, please remember to flip your ballot over and vote “no” on Proposal One.

With only about a month left before the polls close, it’s a critical time for our state and the nation. Please consider a gift to help New York Families get the word out about the issues that matter most to you. Your donation will help us turn out the vote across the state. Thank you for standing with us!

The post Don’t Pull A Pelosi On Prop One appeared first on New York Families Foundation.

“}]]