An Open Letter Against

The Equal Rights Amendment

 

Dear Legislators: 

 

In the name of helping women, a worthy goal, once again the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is advancing where forces with interests that don’t involve women’s true needs will argue that ERA is a solution to a problem it doesn’t address. Let us be clear, laws protecting women’s interests will be undercut by the radical language of ERA that strips away from women their unique place in the law. Not only will real protections be overwritten by this heavy-handed measure, the most profound change will be creating a constitutional foothold for abortion. 

 

A vote in favor of ratifying the ERA is a vote to advance the interests of the abortion industry, and it is a vote against women’s interests, weakening their hard-won rights.

 

This is not the Equal Rights Amendment, but rather the Everything Related to Abortion act, as this measure will in fact do what Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton do not -- create an actual place in our Constitution on which to hang the interest of the abortion industry. 

 

Rather than empowering women, the radical ERA empowers courts, Congress and regulatory agencies among others to decide that a pet political project of theirs should have status and power of the law. Ironically, the arguments used for ERA in the 70s are moot today as laws requiring equal pay, forbidding discrimination by sex or barring entry into schools, the workplace or public life have long since been enacted. We are no longer in need of the women’s movement of the 1970s; times have changed.

 

The issue today is not the absence of laws protecting women; the issue is a radical agenda of empowering abortionists with new, constitutional cover. 

 

Abortion advocates including those at NARAL, the ACLU and Planned Parenthood, have argued in state courts that state-ERA laws require abortion on demand with taxpayer funding. In the states of New Mexico and Connecticut, courts have agreed that abortion should be covered by taxpayers based on their reading of ERA language similar to what has been proposed. At EqualRightsAmendment.org, a Who’s Who of abortion industry voices are all in unison about their desire for this to pass. 

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And recently, a NARAL e-mail to supporters said that the organization wanted the ERA ratified because it would enshrine a right to abortion in the Constitution. In an e-mail sent in March 2019, their chief lobbyist wrote, "In order to protect our reproductive freedom today it’s essential we pass the newly re-introduced bill to ratify the ERA. With its ratification, the ERA would reinforce the constitutional right to abortion by clarifying that the sexes have equal rights, which would require judges to strike down anti-abortion laws because they violate both the constitutional right to privacy and sexual equality."

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The abortion lobby consistently pushes a narrative that camouflages the many dangers of abortion. But pregnancy is not a disease cured by abortion, requiring that preborn life be ended.

 

The abortion industry, from day on, has used the courts to force an agenda that compassionate voters do not embrace. And even as legislators are asked to waste valuable time on the ERA, this matter will have to go to the courts as the deadline for ratifying ERA passed decades ago (last century), twice, and as five states have since voted to rescind their ratification of the ERA. 

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Rather than empowering women, the far-reaching ERA empowers courts, Congress, and regulatory agencies among others to decide that a pet political projects of theirs should have status and power of the law. Ironically, the arguments used for ERA in the 1970s are moot today as laws requiring equal pay, forbidding discrimination by sex or barring entry into schools, the workplace, or public life have long since been enacted. 

 

The issue today is not the absence of laws protecting women; the issue is a radical agenda of empowering abortionists with new, constitutional cover to replace the crumbling legal foundation of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton. When Roe and Doe are reversed, the issue of abortion would return to the states where voters could have a voice and a vote on abortion policy … unless a new legal hook for abortion can be created through the ERA. 

 

We believe that missing all the deadlines and failing to follow the lawful constructs of the political process are reason enough close the chapter on the ERA. 

We the undersigned urge you to vote NO on ERA and YES to matters that truly help empower women to realize their dreams and fulfill their potential, women born and preborn, who have moved past the dated agenda being pushed on the legislature today. You can do so much more for women by voting NO on ERA ratification, and voting YES on things that actually help women achieve in the current marketplace. The Everything Related to Abortion Act should remain an historical footnote in the story of efforts to advance women’s true needs in this country.

 

Regards, 

 

Kristan Hawkins

President, Students for Life of America

Students for Life Action 

 

Anne Schlafly Cori

Chairman, Eagle Forum

 

Eunie Smith                                                                     

President, Eagle Forum   

 

Jeanne F. Mancini

President, March For Life

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Lile Rose

President and Founder, Live Action

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Penny Nance

President, Concerned Women for America

 

Kenda Bartlett

Executive Director, Concerned Women for America

  

Connie Eller

Missouri Blacks for Life

 

Victoria Cobb

President, The Family Foundation 

 

Cathy Ruse

Senior Fellow and Director of Human Dignity, Family Research Council

 

Evangelist Alveda C. King

Civil Rights for The Unborn

 

Marie Tasy

Executive Director, New Jersey Right to Life

 

Mary Kate Knorr

Executive Director, Illinois Right to Life

 

Meg Wittman

Executive Director, Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati

 

Georgette Forney

President, Anglicans for Life

Co-Founder, Silent No More Awareness Campaign

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Molly White
Former Texas State Legislator
Advisory Committee Member - Operation Outcry 
Founder and Director of Women For Life Internationa

 

 

 

 Debbie Leininger

State Director, Concerned Women for America of Illinois

 

Penny Morell

State Director, Concerned Women for America of Maine

 

Bev Ehlen

State Director, Concerned Women for America of Missouri

 

Jill Noble

Area Director - Kansas City, Concerned Women for America of Missouri

 

Linda Thorson

State Director, Concerned Women for America North Dakota

 

Linda Schauer

State Director, Concerned Women for America of South Dakota

 

Ann Hettinger

State Director, Concerned Women for America of Texas

 

Beverly Roberts

Area Director – South Texas, Concerned Women for America of Texas

 

Toni DeLancey

State Director, Concerned Women for America of Virginia  

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Abby Johnson

CEO, And Then There Were None

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Rebecca Hagelin
Secretary, Council for National Policy

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Lauren Muzyka

Executive Director, Sidewalk Advocates For Life