1921 newspaper article of the National Women’s Party drafting an early version of the wording used in the Equal Rights Amendment proposed by the U.S. Congress in 1972. June 13, 1921 edition of The Atlanta Constitution, Wikimedia Commons.
Republican Party didn’t defeat ERA, the whole nation did
May 10, 2023
by Anne Schlafly
The Republican Party did not kill the Equal Rights Amendment; the American people declined to put this controversial amendment into the U.S. Constitution 50 years ago. If the ERA is so popular today, then it could be proposed anew in Congress and then submitted to the states for ratification. But the amendment is not popular and would never get the supermajority of votes required for passage.
The language of the ERA is very radical because it does not define sex and, today, sex has many new definitions. The ERA never mentions women, nor would it give women any special rights or protections.
In 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court declared the ERA dead in National Organization for Women v. Idaho. In 2021, a federal district court reaffirmed that the ERA cannot be added to the Constitution. Congress cannot unilaterally take a vote today and place the ERA in the Constitution. The U.S. Senate should not have wasted its time on this meaningless vote.
Anne Schlafly is the daughter of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016), Chairman of Eagle Forum, and the author of Faithfully, Phyllis In the Kitchen: the Phyllis Schlafly Cookbook, How to Speak Liberal, Is Our Constitution in Jeopardy?, Lessons In LEADERSHIP, and Throwing Children Under the Cannabis
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