NY pols OK vote on constitution change to protect abortion

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York’s legislature took a critical step Tuesday toward changing the state’s constitution to bar discrimination based on “pregnancy outcomes” or “gender expression” — provisions intended to protect abortion rights and a person’s right to seek gender-affirming care. “This is our mandate to continue strengthening New York’s status as a destination state where reproductive freedoms are protected and the right to choose is guaranteed,” Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said at a news conference before the vote. The New York Constitution currently bans discrimination based on “race, color, creed or religion.” The amendment would expand that list to include ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes and “reproductive healthcare and autonomy.” Assembly member David DiPietro, a Republican from western New York, said during floor debate that the measure was unfair to many people of faith. “The passage of the equality amendment would result in the further erosion of religious liberty for New Yorkers whose faith, traditions teach that abortion, homosexuality and/or transgenderism are immoral and could subject many faith-based charities and schools to catastrophic liability,” DiPietro said.