Abortion, LGBTQ rights are on NY ballots this fall. But will the wording confuse voters?

New York officials on Monday turned down requests to add the words "abortion" and "LGBTQ" to a statewide ballot question so that voters clearly understand what they're being asked to decide.

The state's four election commissioners unanimously approved the final ballot language for the Equal Rights Amendment, a proposal that would add abortion and LGBTQ rights to the state constitution. They stuck with wording suggested by the Board of Elections staff, which uses terms such as "pregnancy outcomes" and "gender identity," that are in the amendment itself — and that supporters fear will cloud its significance.

The board had gotten a flood of requests to use plainer language, including a letter last week from 31 Democratic state senators.

"At a time when abortion rights are in jeopardy, voters must understand Proposal Number One will protect abortion rights in the state constitution," they wrote. "This critical point may be lost, however, if the word 'abortion' is not included in the ballot language."

Similar requests were made by Attorney General Letitia James and by most of the more than 1,500 people or groups that submitted public comments, Henry Berger, the commissioners' co-chairman, said before Monday's vote. He acknowledged the Board of Elections may face legal challenges for denying those requests, saying courts may decide the final wording.

"I'm going to vote for this proposal because it's our obligation to do so," he said. "But I understand that our word may not be the last word on this."

A coalition of groups campaigning for the "Prop 1" amendment criticized the decision afterward, without saying if it would bring a court challenge.

"The Board has a mandate to ensure everyday voters can understand what they are voting on," Sasha Ahuja, campaign director for New Yorkers for Equal Rights, said in a statement. "Prop 1 was brought about to ensure our fundamental freedoms, including abortion rights. That should be clearly reflected and spelled out in the ballot language."

What is the Equal Rights Amendment?

The proposal would expand New York's existing ban on racial and religious discrimination by adding a host of other protected categories. Among them: sexual orientation, "reproductive healthcare and autonomy," national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation and pregnancy.

Supporters have promoted it as a safeguard for abortion rights, cementing them in the constitution to thwart any future attempts to enact restrictions if Republicans gain power in the Democratic-led state. Lawmakers first approved it for the ballot in 2022 , just days after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the national right to an abortion.

Opponents argue the amendment is unnecessary and could have unintended consequences. They also claim it was placed on the ballot this fall with an ulterior political motive: to help Democratic candidates by driving voters to the polls.

A court challenge led by a Republican assemblywoman sought to stop the referendum on procedural grounds: that the legislature had voted prematurely in 2022 before getting the attorney general's opinion. But that case ended this month with a final ruling by the state Court of Appeals.

Court fight: Plan to add abortion, LGBTQ rights to NY constitution back on ballot after court reversal

At least five other states will hold referendums on Nov. 5 on adding abortion rights to their constitutions: Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Nevada and South Dakota. Two of those votes were initiated by citizen petitions as a way to overturn restrictions that were set after the 2022 Supreme Court decision — an outright ban in South Dakota and a ban after six weeks of pregnancy in Florida.

New York's ballot question is broader and less explicit about abortion than those other state's proposals. But supporters say it would have the same effect: shielding abortion rights from any efforts to restrict them by statute.

"It is clear as day, and it is unequivocal that if the amendment is ratified it will protect abortion," Emma Roth, a senior staff attorney for the advocacy group Pregnancy Justice, said in an interview on Monday.

What are opponents' objections?

In a statement opposing the amendment, the organization representing New York's Catholic bishops called it "gratuitous," particularly after the state already passed a law to strengthen abortion rights in 2019.

"Unfortunately, this bill solidifies the message that New York has been sending women for some time now: abortion is positive, empowering, and the key to success," wrote the New York State Catholic Conference. "This couldn’t be further from the truth."

An organized campaign against the amendment has focused on aspects other than abortion rights.

The group waging that campaign — known as the Coalition to Protect Kids — has warned that prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity could allow children to undergo gender-changing treatment without their parents' consent. They found fault with other parts, too: protecting a person's national origin, for instance, could mean that undocumented immigrants would be entitled to vote.

John Faso, a former Republican congressman who opposes the amendment, calls it a "trojan horse" for liberal causes — "under the guise that they're protecting abortion."

"If the average New Yorker knew what they were doing here, regardless of party, this thing would go down in flames," he said.

The amendment's advocates say the reverse: that abortion opponents are throwing up a smoke screen of unfounded concerns about transgender children and other topics to try to discredit the proposal.

"New Yorkers won’t be fooled," said Andrew Taverrite, a spokesman for New Yorkers for Equal Rights . "They can see clearly that this is simply anti-abortion politicians using a small handful of innocent kids as political pawns to divide New Yorkers and distract us from what this amendment is about: protecting the right to abortion and guaranteeing our personal freedoms.”

Who's paying for the PR campaigns?

Campaigns for and against the amendment are sure to heat up in the three months before the Nov. 5 vote.

The Coalition to Protect Kids has so far been funded largely by Carol Crossed, a pro-life activist from the Rochester suburb of Brighton. Crossed, vice president of Feminists Choosing Life of New York, has contributed $250,000 of the group's total $275,000 in funding as of mid-July, according to state campaign finance records.

That was dwarfed by the $2.7 million raised by New Yorkers for Equal Rights. Its largest contributors were the New York Civil Liberties Union, which had had made $850,000 in cash and in-kind donations; various Planned Parenthood funds and affiliates, which had contributed more than $500,000; and LJS Revocable Trust, a Tulsa, Oklahoma fund that kicked in $400,000.

Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA Today Network. Reach him at cmckenna@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Abortion, LGBTQ rights are on NY ballots this fall. But will the wording confuse voters?