By Amanda Mechell and Scott Brinton
On the ballot in the November election this year will be an Equal Rights Amendment to the New York State Constitution that would, if passed by voters, provide protections under the law for all people regardless of ethnicity, national origin, age, disability and sex — including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes.
To get the word out, the League of Women Voters hosted a panel discussion March 15 at the Freeport Memorial Library, “Reproductive Justice and the ERA: A Call to Action.”
The current ERA to the State Constitution was adopted in 1938 and provides protections against discrimination based on “race, color, creed or religion,” according to the New York State Senate.
Long Islanders must “get out the vote in November and remember to flip the ballot to vote for the proposed ERA to the New York State Constitution,” said Dr. Susan Cushman, a professor of gender studies at Nassau Community College and a LWV board member.
Joining Cushman on the panel were Anna Georgoulas, Dovely Doula Services; Sharon McDermott, Healthy Healing & Acu Momma Doula; Dr. Martine Hackett, director of Public Health Programs at Hofstra University and co-founder of the Birth Justice Warriors Project; and Dr. Nellie Taylor-Walthrust, director of the North Shore Child and Family Guidance Center and co-founder of Birth Justice Warriors.
Ann Leiter, a LWV of Central Nassau board member, said the LVW is a nonpartisan organization that encourages and informs participation in the government by increasing understanding of major public policy issues. Forty-five people from all backgrounds and ages attended the Friday evening discussion, including students, mothers, women and men. In the audience were members of the LWV of Huntington.
Long Islanders must “get out the vote in November and remember to flip the ballot to vote for
Dr. Susan Cushman, League of Women Voters Board Member
the proposed ERA to the New York State Constitution.”
Passage of the amendment to the State Constitution first required approval by the State Legislature two years in a row. The Legislature passed the measure for the second straight year in January 2023, allowing it to move to a statewide vote this coming November, according to the New York Civil Liberties Union.
In addition to guarding against discrimination, the amendment would also protect against any government action that would limit reproductive autonomy or access to reproductive health care. The Center for Reproductive Rights describes reproductive autonomy as “the power to make and act on decisions about reproduction.”
Birth Justice Warriors was founded in 2018 to ensure equal rights to reproductive health care for Black and Brown women, for whom the infant mortality rate is significantly higher than for White women.
“We want equality, and we want access to the best health care so we can ensure healthy birth outcomes,” Walthrust said.
“Birth Justice Warriors holds a space in Nassau County that previously did not exist,” Hackett added.
