The amendment’s passage Friday is the first step toward adding the language to the New York Constitution. Lawmakers will need to vote again to pass the amendment in the next legislative session next year and then voters must vote to pass it in a referendum before it can take effect.
The amendment language specifically names protection for rights related to pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes and reproductive health care and autonomy.
It reads in part, “No person shall, because 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, be subjected to any discrimination in [his or her] their civil rights by any other person or by any firm, corporation, or institution, or by the state or any agency or subdivision of the state, pursuant to law.”
The state Senate passed the amendment 49-14 on Friday and the state Assembly passed the amendment 98-43 later in the evening.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul told reporters at a news conference earlier Friday that enshrining abortion rights into the state’s constitution “is going to protect reproductive health in the state of New York for generations to come.”
Hochul convened the legislature in an extraordinary session this week to begin the process of enshrining abortion rights as well as to pass another piece of legislation limiting the concealed carry of weapons in New York. Both came in response to recent US Supreme Court decisions.
The high court in recent days overturned Roe v. Wade, as well as another landmark case about restrictions on carrying a concealed handgun outside the home in the state.
This story has been updated with additional details Friday.