New York Moves to Bolster Abortion Access, Strengthen 'Affirmative Action'

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

56% : "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.
53% : A statement from the New York Senate Majority (pdf) appears to say as much, stating that, "this amendment preserves laws designed to prevent or dismantle discrimination on the basis of these characteristics such as affirmative action."
50% : The Equal Rights Amendment (S.8797B), which passed the state legislature on July 1, seeks to modify the New York State Constitution by adding a new section that expands the list of classes protected against discrimination and stipulating that one of these classes includes the right to abortion.
50% : The new amendment goes beyond that, introducing additional protected classes by also barring discrimination based on ethnicity, national origin, disability, and sex including pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.
48% : Besides seeking to enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution, the amendment also includes language that expands the definition of discrimination to include not just "intent" but also "effect."
44% : The New York State legislature has passed an "equal rights" amendment to the state Constitution that would bolster protections for "affirmative action" programs and strengthen a woman's right to abortion by treating denial of the procedure as an act of discrimination based on sex.
44% : New York State should be pouring resources into helping women and families, not promoting abortion through limitless funding, advertisements, and splashy legislation."
43% : New York Gov. Kathy Hochul hailed the passage of the amendment, which comes on the heels of the recent Supreme Court decision that removed federal protections for abortion.
38% : The preamble makes clear that it considers discrimination based on pregnancy -- including abortion -- a type of discrimination based on sex and that it seeks to strengthen abortion access by treating "the failure to provide reasonable accommodations" to those seeking to terminate an unwanted pregnancy as an act of discrimination.
38% : The notion that America's institutions and social structures are marred by systemic racism is a question of fierce debate and controversy, with those on the right tending to dismiss the idea as a vehicle for reverse discrimination and creeping socialism.
28% : Kristen Curran, director of government relations for the New York State Catholic Conference, had a critical take on the amendment, arguing that it sends the wrong message on abortion while failing to provide meaningful support to women, children, and families.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.