New York voters approved a contentious amendment enshrining abortion and adding constitutional protections for a person’s “gender expression” and “gender identity” — in a measure Republicans opposed as a constitutional “Trojan Horse” that could give extra benefits to illegal immigrants, take away parental rights, and trample female sports.

New York’s Proposition 1, called the Equal Rights Amendment by supporters, amends the state constitution’s Equal Protection Clause to prohibit a person’s rights being denied based on “ethnicity, national origin, age, and disability,” and a person’s “sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy.”

The clause previously only barred discrimination based on “race, color, creed, or religion.” The Associated Press said on Tuesday night that the measure would pass, and it was winning by 64.8 percent to 35.2 percent with 60 percent of votes tallied so far.

New York is one of ten states considering abortion-related measures this Election Day — and abortion has been a winning issue for Democrats on state ballots since the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022. Yet in a first on Tuesday night, a measure supporting more abortion access in Florida failed to pass, keeping the state’s six-week ban in effect.

New York’s “Equal Rights Amendment” prompted a legal challenge about whether its placement on the ballot was constitutional and faced fierce criticism from Republicans for being overly broad. Since New York already has strong abortion protections, Republicans criticized the amendment as using abortion — a winning issue — as a cover for a slew of other, less politically popular issues that the amendment would affect.

“Prop One empowers courts to strike down restrictions, including parental notice or consent, regarding their minor child’s gender-transition, by applying a heightened level of judicial scrutiny or strict scrutiny,” a coalition opposing the measure said.

Because the amendment adds “ethnicity” and “national origin” as protections, the chairman of the New York GOP, Ed Cox, warned that it was a “Trojan Horse” that could give taxpayer-funded handouts to illegal immigrants, as the Sun noted. 
Proposition 1 was backed by groups including Planned Parenthood of Greater New York, which said it was an “important step toward protecting reproductive rights and access in New York following the U.S. Supreme Court’s wrongful decision to end the federal constitutional right to abortion, established by Roe v. Wade.”