New Yorkdo888, with its liberal bent and habit of electing Democrats, seems the sort of place where a statewide ballot measure to protect reproductive rights would be a shoo-in.

That may not be the case this year.

The proponents of the ballot measure, known as Proposition 1, have struggled to raise money. The lack of spending has left many voters uninformed or unaware of the ballot question. And strategists from both parties say the manner in which the proposition was written — without abortion explicitly mentioned — has given opponents a window to try to redefine and perhaps defeat it.

“The biggest thing that I’ve noticed, besides the legislative train wreck of this ballot measure’s language, is that virtually no one in the state even knows it’s there,” said John Faso, a former Republican congressman who opposes the measure.

Proposition 1 seeks to update the state’s Equal Rights Amendment, first passed in 1938, to include new protected classes that include “pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes and reproductive health care and autonomy.”

The point of the measure, supporters say, is to codify certain legal protections — the right to an abortion, as well as freedom from discrimination based on disability, gender, sexuality and ethnicity, among others — into the State Constitution. That way, if politicians who opposed gay marriage or abortion ever came to power, it would be harder to restrict access to those existing rights.

But opponents of the proposal have framed it as a constitutional overreach and contend that it would affect issues like whether transgender girls can play on girls’ high school sports teams and parents’ ability to weigh in on their children’s health care choices.

Ten states could expand abortion rights via ballot measures. Nebraska will also vote on proposed restrictions.

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