There are several narratives around the New York Equal Rights Amendment, also known as Prop 1, which will appear on the back of your ballot in New York state on Nov. 5.

Here is one for it.

Here is one against it.

In order to cut through the rhetoric, Capital Tonight invited Richard Rifkin to weigh in.

Rifkin is the legal director at the Government Law Center at Albany Law School, and has worked in New York state government for 40 years in multiple capacities, including as special counsel to former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, deputy attorney general and executive director of the New York state Ethics Commission.

Rifkin discussed the difference between a constitutional amendment and a law or statute, and also addressed whether Prop 1 would empower courts to allow minors to undergo medical procedures, such as gender-transition surgeries, without parental consent.