1971 Pennsylvania Amendment 2

1971 Pennsylvania Amendment 2

May 18, 1971
Shall Article I of the Constitution be amended by adding a new section, prohibiting any denial or abridgment of rights because of an individual's sex?
Results
Choice Votes % Yes 783,441 62.76% No 464,882 37.24%
Yes   60-70%   50-60% No   60-70%   50-60% No Vote

1971 Pennsylvania Amendment 2 was a proposed amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution to provide that equality of rights cannot be denied or abridged on account of sex. Placed on the ballot by House Bill 1678, it was approved with over 62% of the vote in favor, and with the backing of 61 of Pennsylvania's 67 counties.

Background

House Bill 1678 of the 1969-1970 regular session and House Bill 14 of the 1971-1972 regular session placed the amendment on the ballot.^[1][2] Both bills' prime sponsor was State Rep. Gerald Kaufman.^[1][2]

Contents

The following question and information was shown to voters for Amendment 2:^[3]

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JOINT RESOLUTION 2

Shall Article I of the Constitution be amended by adding a new section, prohibiting any denial or abridgment of rights because of an individual's sex?

YES

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NO

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Results

The following table details the results by county:^[4][5]

County	Yes		No
	#	%	#	%
Adams	3,330	57.26	2,486	42.74
Allegheny	139,449	69.92	59,978	30.08
Armstrong	9,586	57.64	7,045	42.36
Beaver	23,678	58.34	16,910	41.66
Bedford	2,846	53.94	2,430	46.06
Berks	16,812	66.05	8,642	33.95
Blair	10,551	47.04	11,877	52.96
Bradford	6,336	57.74	4,638	42.26
Bucks	17,785	66.90	8,800	33.10
Butler	10,284	64.99	5,539	35.01
Cambria	18,485	59.99	12,331	40.01
Cameron	1,171	65.93	605	34.07
Carbon	1,770	61.31	1,117	38.69
Centre	7,673	66.76	3,820	33.24
Chester	22,656	66.06	11,641	33.94
Clarion	3,694	58.86	2,582	41.14
Clearfield	5,581	51.40	5,277	48.60
Clinton	4,260	56.54	3,275	43.46
Columbia	6,007	54.32	5,052	45.68
Crawford	5,431	66.88	2,690	33.12
Cumberland	8,120	64.97	4,379	35.03
Dauphin	10,331	65.37	5,472	34.63
Delaware	29,558	69.27	13,112	30.73
Elk	3,163	56.25	2,460	43.75
Erie	23,416	64.90	12,664	35.10
Fayette	7,434	58.83	5,202	41.17
Forest[a]	-	-	-	-
Franklin	5,577	57.91	4,054	42.09
Fulton	567	41.33	805	58.67
Greene	4,716	57.55	3,479	42.45
Huntingdon	2,274	36.80	3,905	63.20
Indiana	7,359	58.16	5,293	41.84
Jefferson	6,469	60.31	4,258	39.69
Juniata	1,279	57.23	956	42.77
Lackawanna	13,036	47.33	14,504	52.67
Lancaster	10,640	55.97	8,369	44.03
Lawrence	8,851	61.24	5,602	38.76
Lebanon	5,625	66.11	2,884	33.89
Lehigh	12,171	64.05	6,830	35.95
Luzerne	11,271	61.43	7,077	38.57
Lycoming	11,052	57.17	8,280	42.83
McKean	2,053	62.86	1,213	37.14
Mercer	6,442	64.95	3,476	35.05
Mifflin	2,732	57.04	2,058	42.96
Monroe	2,913	61.95	1,789	38.05
Montgomery	33,278	69.56	14,564	30.44
Montour	1,962	55.44	1,577	44.56
Northampton	6,726	62.67	4,007	37.33
Northumberland	9,686	54.26	8,166	45.74
Perry	1,952	55.27	1,580	44.73
Philadelphia	105,855	63.98	59,596	36.02
Pike	642	62.39	387	37.61
Potter	2,010	59.15	1,388	40.85
Schuylkill	15,916	62.88	9,396	37.12
Snyder	2,433	53.27	2,134	46.73
Somerset	6,412	53.67	5,536	46.33
Sullivan	824	58.86	576	41.14
Susquehanna	3,489	50.97	3,356	49.03
Tioga	4,142	60.80	2,670	39.20
Union	2,412	53.45	2,101	46.55
Venango	4,979	66.34	2,526	33.66
Warren	2,735	67.25	1,332	32.75
Washington	24,316	61.22	15,403	38.78
Wayne	1,762	49.27	1,814	50.73
Westmoreland	25,967	64.41	14,348	35.59
Wyoming	2,399	55.89	1,893	44.11
York	9,110	61.61	5,676	38.39
State total	783,441	62.76	464,882	37.24

References

1. "House Bill 1678". Pennsylvania General Assembly. Retrieved 10 January 2026.
2. "House Bill 14". Pennsylvania General Assembly. Retrieved 10 January 2026.
3. "PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS". Public Opinion. 13 May 1971. Retrieved 10 January 2026.
4. "State and Congressional Files Returns, 1971, Primary Election Adams – Lackawanna". Department of State – via Pennsylvania State Archives.
5. "State and Congressional Files Returns, 1971, Primary Election Lancaster – York". Department of State – via Pennsylvania State Archives.

Notes

1. Forest County election officials wrote in place of the certified results that a printing error had occurred on the ballot, which was not discovered until around 10 A.M. on Election Day, so no voting took place on any of the amendments on the ballot that election. The officials noted that 1,455 votes were cast in the county.