New York State Lawmakers Revive & Pass Equal Rights Amendment To Protect Right To Abortion In State Constitution, Advancing To Next Step

The New York State Senate and Assembly advanced the first passage of an amendment, S.51002, to codify the right to an abortion and the right to contraception in the New York State Constitution. After this first step of passing this resolution, it “must be passed by two successive legislatures, and supported by a majority of voters in a public referendum,” said Senator Anna Kaplan, a co-sponsor, with the earliest for a referendum coming to a vote being November 2023.

The Resolution that passed on July 1, 2022 would codify the right to an abortion and the right to contraception, in addition to protecting New Yorkers from various forms of discrimination, as well as protecting from future action by the Supreme Court dismantling rights for LGBTQ+ people, according to a press release by Senator Kaplan. "The resolution expands equal protection under the law to several new identity classes, including on the basis of ethnicity, national origin, age, disability and sex,” she said. “Sex includes sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, reproductive healthcare and autonomy."

The lead sponsor is Andrea Stewart-Cousins.

Is Modifying The State Constitution To Protect Abortion Rights, Women, Girls, And All Birthing People New?

According to the New York Times, 15 states including California are seeking to amend their state constitutions to protect the right to save the life of the woman, girl or birthing person for any reason, including financial, wrong time in life, wrong potential partner, and mental and physical health. New York State had tried this before, but failed. During the creation of that effort back then, the lead sponsor, Senator Liz Krueger, said they learned many things while drafting it.

Back in February 2022, The Times Union reported on that earlier proposal that the "inclusive Equal Rights Amendment" is different than the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) at the federal level. Said Senator Krueger then, it was very different than the 45-year-old federal effort, because the state-level amendment "would expand on the federal ERA language to include protections for race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and pregnancy."

According to reporting in Politico, the earlier version of the proposal stalled because over disagreements of recognition based on religion. Politico pointed out that this version was “modified to address critics’ concerns over potential effects on religious freedom.”

The Assembly passed broad state Equal Rights Amendment with 98-43 vote Friday evening, and the Senate “hours earlier swiftly approved the resolution on a 49-14 vote after just minutes of floor discussion,” reported Politico. “The amendment would add explicit protections for New Yorkers to access abortion care,” as well as the right to contraception.

Why Now?

New York Governor Kathy Hochul called for a special session after the Supreme Court struck down New York's open-carry gun law. The Supreme Court then struck down Roe V. Wade, and New York's Equal Rights amendment was added to the agenda for the special session shortly thereafter.

As reported by Politico, the lead sponsor of this version of the bill, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins “told reporters that the Supreme Court’s ruling last week ratcheted up lawmakers’ urgency to finally move the proposal after years of debate in Albany. She noted that Friday’s vote came on the anniversary when New York’s abortion law took effect more than 50 years ago.”

After the extraordinary session on Friday called by New York Governor Kathy Hochul to address New York’s gun laws and abortion, she told reporters: “It’s part of our fighting back to protect women’s reproductive freedoms here in the state of New York. That [amendment] is going to protect reproductive health in the state of New York for generations to come.”

In defense of both votes, Governor Hochul said: “We're not going backwards. They may think that they can change our lives with the stroke of a pen. But we have pens, too," as reported by The Poughkeepsie Journal.

Abortion Rights Protection At The Federal Level In The Constitution

The Times Union interviewed Wilfred Codrington, an assistant professor at Brooklyn Law School and a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, to discover more about the federal effort to add an equal rights amendment for women to the U.S. Constitution. According to him, it has been in the works since the 1920s.

Codrington said "the Constitution doesn't require women be treated equally." He explained that "if there’s nothing permanent and enshrined in the Constitution protecting those values, a number of statutes we’re seeing being contested in the courts and eviscerated or struck down that also were meant to be enduring."

Senator Krueger was starting with New York state by attempting a broader reach than just women, which "would make New York state, I believe, the first in the nation to recognize that all of our populations should have nondiscrimination protections within our Constitution ... (for) a broader universe of categories of humans and for a broader range of issues than gender," she said as reported by The Times Union.

With Senator Krueger’s bill “There's all kinds of precedent that we need to make sure we have the language correctly on, that we are not impeding one right by protecting another right. So I have found that attempting a complex change in a Constitution is a much more difficult assignment than I had originally hoped for," Krueger said.

That was then. This is now.

Union For Healthcare Workers 1199SEIU Demands Abortion Rights Be Restored With Federal Law

On June 24, 2022, the United Healthcare Workers East 1199SEIU, the largest union of healthcare workers in the United States, sent a statement to the press in response to the overturning of Roe vs Wade, which fundamentally changed the control people who give birth have over their bodies and future lives.

Large majorities of Americans support abortion rights. Yet the Supreme Court, stacked with extremist voices totally out of step with our nation’s values, has radically undermined the right of every person who can get pregnant to control their own bodies.
— George Gresham, President of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East

Their statement from George Gresham, President of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East reads as follows:

“As a union of healthcare workers, we recognize that the right to an abortion is fundamental to reproductive health, overall health, and bodily bodily autonomy. 1199SEIU is appalled that the US Supreme Court has erased half a century of legal precedent allowing people to make the most basic decisions about their bodies, lives, and families. While much of the world is moving forward to secure greater reproductive rights, we have taken a tremendous step backward.

“Large majorities of Americans support abortion rights. Yet the Supreme Court, stacked with extremist voices totally out of step with our nation’s values, has radically undermined the right of every person who can get pregnant to control their own bodies.

Hello, World!

Those who can afford it will travel out of state or out of country for abortion procedures; those with the least financial means will have nowhere to go. The same politicians who herald the end of reproductive freedom will not raise a finger to improve pre- and post-natal care and ensure that health services are universally available.
— George Gresham, President of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East

“The ramifications of overturning Roe vs. Wade are as gut-wrenching as they are predictable: there will be an immediate wave of abortion bans in states around the country as trigger laws go into effect. People will seek out alternative and dangerous ways of ending their pregnancies. Rape victims, including children, will be forced to carry to term. Those who can afford it will travel out of state or out of country for abortion procedures; those with the least financial means will have nowhere to go. The same politicians who herald the end of reproductive freedom will not raise a finger to improve pre- and post-natal care and ensure that health services are universally available.

“This decision must be a glaring wake-up call to the dysfunction of our nation’s political life and the grave threat of authoritarianism to our democracy, our laws, and institutions.

“1199SEIU stands firmly behind the right to choose and we will continue to fight tooth and nail to preserve this most basic freedom. We call on Congress to codify abortion rights into federal law immediately.

1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East is the largest and fastest-growing healthcare union in America. They represent over 450,000 nurses and caregivers throughout Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Florida. Our mission is to achieve quality care and good jobs for all.

Yes, There Is A "Bans Off Our Bodies" Pro-Abortion Justice Rally In Beacon Saturday

Wooo! Like you needed another thing to do this Saturday! Nation-wide, women, men and theys will be gathering to fight to keep government’s legislation off our bodies. No, this is not related for one second to the mandating of vaccinations. This is a life-changing event that men have almost no responsibility in when they impregnate a women. Girls who are just getting their periods for the first time are already being educated by their mothers that their rights to freedom and smart choices about when to start a family are being snatched from from them, in order to possibly snatch the baby in order to put it up for adoption or enter into foster care, both money-making situations.

Beacon
Day:
Saturday, May 14, 2022
Time:
2pm - 4pm
Location:
Polhill Park, Main St & South Ave, Beacon, NY 12508
More Information >

Yes, this is a bias article, and yes, we hope to see you there, or at other rallies in the Hudson Valley. Read Katie’s speech here to learn how she really feels.

Beacon Stages Rally In Response To Supreme Court Draft Opinion; 3 Videos Of Abortion Rights Protests In Beacon

On May 3, 2022, in the evening after POLITICO reported on the leaked Supreme Court initial draft opinion which would vote to strike down Roe v. Wade, written by Justice Samuel Alito, the country erupted in protests. In Beacon, a rally was quickly organized and staged at Pohill Park, the common meeting place for such expressions at the intersection of Main Street and Wolcott Avenue / 9D. The video for that is in this article below.

This article also contains coverage of another abortion-rights protest that took place in October 2021 in Memorial Park as a local extension to the Women’s March on October 2, 2021 in response to Texas’ ban on abortion after 6 weeks, which kicked off with a speech from this blogger, followed by a march down Fishkill Avenue. Scroll down and you’ll see and read it.

And finally, there is a never-before-published video protest march in the summer of 2021 against a known letter writer and longtime Beaconite and past Dutchess County legislator, Richard (Dick) Murphy, who targets homes with rainbow flags on them with hand-written or typed anti-LGBTQ messages, as well as anti-abortion letters, which sometimes contain graphic images. Children often live at the homes to which he mails or drops off these letters to.

October 2021 Speech On The Right To Abortion

On October 2, 2021, I said words out loud for the first time about abortion. A reader of A Little Beacon Blog, Karen Finnegan, asked me to speak at a rally she had organized the night before in response to the national Women’s March for Abortion Justice, and I said yes. I spent the next day writing and writing notes. Pages of sentences. Too long. In last ditch efforts to edit, a friend pulled me back from several emotional ledges. I thank them for that.

Below is the 2 minute speech that I condensed 20 minutes before the delivering it while sitting and hiding behind a pillar of the Memorial Park Pavilion near the porta-potty. After delivering the speech, I switched back into reporter mode to cover the protest march in video for A Little Beacon Blog. That video is below.


 

I want to thank Karen aka the Beacon Hood Chicken aka Chickens With Attitude for organizing this opportunity for us in the Beacon and Hudson Valley regions to participate nation-wide in defending the right to our bodies and to access safe and effective abortions.

I would like to give space an acknowledgement to those marching, rolling, watching and listening who made the choice to have an abortion, and to honor you during these times.

To give you context, I am a mother of three children who I had through my own pregnancies.

Abortion is one of the biggest boundaries a person can put up for themselves to protect their lives.

We sacrifice pieces of our bodies with each pregnancy.

We sacrifice pieces of our lives with each child born.

Yes, there are rewards from having children, but it is not all cotton candy and glitter.

Every single egg in our bodies does not need to be fertilized.

And if it is unintentionally, the world does not get to come down on us to force us to garden.

To explain the WHY of why the choice is ours of when we get to fulfill responsibility for a child born is demoralizing.

A condom breaks.

Someone takes a condom off.

Ovulation cycles get forgotten about. "Oh - I missed the signs this month."

Missing the ovulation signs this month does not mean that our lives need to change. It means now is not the time if that is what we know to be true for our lives now.

A woman skips a pill. Her life can change.

A man takes a pill, he can change the life of a woman forever while he walks away.

Yes there are laws to bring responsibility.

Financial Foundation is not there. Don't be fooled.

The Child Tax Credit is already being discussed being taken away for higher income earners.

The Child Tax Credit advance is not free money. It is an advance. That freelance workers are going to need to be aware of and possibly pay back, because it is used to offset how much we owe at tax time. Usually the Child Tax Credit is offset against a freelance or gig worker's 1099 work that did not have taxes taken out.

Right now, the Child Tax Credit is an illusion of help.

There is no one helping us financially to have children.

People who have abortions need to know we support them. Their mental health is key, and their physical health during and after a procedure is paramount.

Thank goodness our cycles give us some birth control, in that we can't get pregnant every day of the week. There are the number of hours a month that we can get pregnant.

Thank goodness these people trying to make this into something that can be taken from us - at least they can't take our eggs for the half life that each offers. But we control them in the garden.

Keep educating ourselves and our children with sex education, so that we at least know how everything works, what is inside of our bodies, and what is best for our bodies and our lives.

Thank you for showing up today, and thank you for listening.

 

After the rally, three women arrived from different parts of the Hudson Valley. They were protestors during the original battle for Roe v Wade, and were summoning their strength from that time to fight this time. Take a listen to what they had to say.

Last spring of 2021, the anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion letter writer, Richard (Dick) Murphy, pinned a 3-foot doll into the yard of Donna Minkowitz. She threw the doll away after the Beacon Police said they had no use for it when she reported Dick to them as a complaint. His letter-writing campaign had gone too far. Enough neighbors were upset about it, that Donna organized a silent protest march through their neighborhood, ending up at his house. He did come out onto the front porch to get his mail, and seemed tickled that the protest was occurring, as he is a forever fan of free speech.