FROM SFLA NEWS

The ERA Sequel No One Asked For: Fighting the “Everything Related to Abortion” Act…Again  

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Caroline Wharton - 13 Feb 2023

In the name of every humanitarian society, the pro-life movement asks the abortion lobby to stop beating the very, very dead horse of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) or as we like to call it, the “Everything Related to Abortion” Act. This pro-abortion beast has been dead and defunct for a long time now, but once again, the abortion lobby in Congress is not content to let it rest in peace. Here’s how this infamous amendment is yet again being pushed:  

Members of Congress are attempting to revive the ERA again by removing the ratification deadline and pre-deadline rescissions. The “pesky” measures, set in place by Congress, are the stumbling block to this amendment’s success because according to these lawful stipulations, the ERA expired literal decades ago.  

(Click HERE to read another SFLA blog entitled “The Equal Rights Amendment Died 100 Years Ago… Stop Trying to Reanimate the Corpse.)  

So why are we still talking about this amendment? That’s a very good question.    

In a Washington Times op-ed, Students for Life Action (SFLAction) President Kristan Hawkins attempted to solve this brain teaser by positing that the abortion lobby isn’t a gracious loser — on the contrary, they have a hard time moving on and a tendency to just try to change the rules for their benefit. She wrote:  

“In life, a hard lesson is learning when to let things go, something supporters of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) have struggled with over the last 100 years. 

“When children playing a game want to change the rules because they are losing, we teach them that winning is not guaranteed. Consider the great sport of baseball, which emerged in the same timeframe as the ERA. Imagine the reaction if teams today sometimes sued to add a 10th inning, if losing at the end of the 9th. The rules provide a framework so that all can participate with an understanding of the stakes, timeframes, and instructions. Changing rules to suit those losing creates more problems than it solves, and it ignores the accomplishments of those who prevailed.”  

Regardless of the abortion lobby’s issues with basic childhood development lessons, we are unfortunately still talking about this amendment, and SFLAction continues to stand in firm opposition to this veiled attempt to shove abortion down America’s throat in the name of “equal rights.” As the abortion lobby continues to bring this amendment back up, SFLAction has been consistent in fighting it off, promising the public for years to be “organized and litigious against the Equal Rights Amendment.” 

(Click HERE to read Hawkins’ op-ed at RealClear Politics entitled “ERA: A Failed Idea Even Before It Gets to Court.”)  

Along with working to expose the truth behind the ERA to the public, SFLAction’s efforts have also included multiple student rallies, authoring a coalition letter in opposition to the deadline change, and sending Key Vote Alerts to members of Congress to vote against such actions.  

The Members of Congress currently involved in attempting to ratify the ERA again include Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), Sylvia Garcia (D-TX), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Cori Bush (D-MO), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).

Refresher: Why Is the ERA Pro-Abortion & Anti-Woman?  

Hawkins explained in a previous statement why the ERA should be called the ‘Everything Related to Abortion’ Act. She stated, “The ERA is a Trojan horse for abortion, an attempt to create an actual hook for abortion in the Constitution, something Roe never did. But as the Department of Justice recently said, the ERA has failed twice to pass Congressional deadlines and is over. If ERA advocates really believed in this movement, they would start again and work the Constitutional process in a timely and lawful manner.”  

For the lives of preborn children, the ERA would be detrimental as it would make a ‘right’ to legal abortion through all nine months with taxpayer funding. Women would also be negatively affected by the ERA as the amendment specifically states that a person’s sex cannot be considered in making a legal preference — this would shatter many legal protections for women.  

(Click HERE to read a Federalist op-ed by Hawkins and Anne Schlafly Cori entitled “Left Trying To Revive Equal Rights Amendment To Get Abortion In The Constitution.”)  

SFLA reported earlier:  

“The many protections designed for women that would be impacted and harmed includ[e] the Equal Pay Act of 1963; the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972; the Federal Minimum Wage Act of 1974, and the Pregnancy Nondiscrimination Act of 1964. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote in Sex Bias in the U.S. Code that the ERA will change 800 federal laws including the elimination of social security benefits for wives and widows. The financial impact on women is incalculable, and ERA will do nothing to focus attention on sexual crimes against women, as a focus on women would be discouraged.”  

Clearly, the ERA is the opposite of equality as it strips rights from women and preborn children, and that’s why no matter how many times the abortion lobby brings it back up, we will keep shooting it down.  

For more updates on the progression of this regressive amendment, stay tuned to the SFLA blog.  

READ NEXT: Opting in for Chemical Abortion Pills? Walgreens Apparently Learned Zip from the Opioid Crisis 

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