A controversial New York ballot measure designed to enshrine abortion rights protections will pass, despite opposition from critics who viewed it as a lefty Trojan horse, the Associated Press projected.
Statewide early results had Prop 1 up 61% to 29% after polls closed Tuesday at 9 p.m., New York Board of Elections results showed.
The margin was wider in New York City, with nearly 78% pro and 22% against, city Board of Elections results showed.
Proponents celebrated an early election night victory as results for other state and national races slowly streamed in.
“Tonight is a monumental victory for all New Yorkers,” crowed Sasha Ahuja, campaign director of New Yorkers for Equal rights.
“We were devastated when Roe v. Wade fell. But today New Yorkers protected reproductive freedom and left Roe’s limitations behind.”
The referendum also known as the Equal Rights Amendment was one of many recent Democrat-driven ballot measures across the US centered around abortion.
Abortion itself wasn’t mentioned in the measure — instead, it would add language to the state’s constitution that would extend the Empire State’s anti-discrimination protections to everyone.
Democrats also hoped the abortion-focused measure would drum up votes from women scared about their reproductive rights under a potential future Trump administration and Republican Congress — and, indeed, those fears did drive many New Yorkers to the polls.
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“The most important issue to me was abortion,” photographer Cordell Hurst, 52, told The Post outside an upstate polling site.
Many Republicans seethed after the measure’s projected passage at what they viewed as a bait-and-switch.
“I’m beyond upset about it,” Ashley D’Alessandro told The Post.
“I’m against it, because it was like ‘Let’s get it passed, then we’ll explain it to you,’” said Edward Green. a veteran Nassau County Republican.
Other New Yorkers were clear in what they viewed it would protect.
Lauren Joseph, 45, a caretaker who voted in Bed-Stuy, said she voted “yes” to Prop 1.
“I should have the right to abort my child if I choose to,” she said.
But opponents argued the proposed amendment was, at best, sloppily written and could open the door to letting non-citizens vote and stripping parents of their rights over kids’ transgender surgeries.
“No person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws of this state” and all of those protections would be extended to everyone regardless of “race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, creed [or], religion, or sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy,” the text of the proposed amendment says.
Constitutional lawyer Bobbi Anne Cox, who is based in Westchester County, argued that “national origin” can refer to foreigners or non-citizens and illegal immigrants and that “laws of the state” can reference voting.
Collegiate swimming champion and anti-trans activist Riley Gaines urged New Yorkers to vote against the proposal “if you care about women and girls.”
Gaines and other opponents claimed that it could allow for biological males who identify as transgender to compete in women’s sports, and permit youths to get sexual reassignment surgery without parental notification or approval.
But the potential protections didn’t scare Ennis Price, 27, who voted in Brooklyn.
“I’m trans,” she said. “I have a direct benefit from that and beyond that to defend all the people I care about.”
“If everything from today goes horribly wrong, I hope that passes.”
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