“Virginia abortion advocates are setting up a legal fight for years to come, trying to pass the ERA to find a way into the Constitution as Roe v. Wade is collapsing,” said Students for Life of America’s Kristan Hawkins.
WASHINGTON D.C. (11-20-19) – Virginia Democrats put the ERA at the forefront of their legislative agenda this week, laying the groundwork for an extensive struggle over the future of the almost 100-year-old measure. “ERA is a bad idea on so many fronts, but it will become the trial lawyers’ full employment act, as it will be fought in courts across the country,” said Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins.
“Despite the fact that twice a deadline has passed without achieving 38 states in favor of the ERA or that five states actually rescinded their ratification, the abortion lobby is going all out in Virginia to achieve something Roe v. Wade never could – create a Constitutional link to abortion. This will expand abortion in the United States. Already state courts have found that state-based ERA laws require taxpayer funding of abortion.
“This state-based effort is being matched in the House which this month moved a resolution forward to change the rules so that the failed ERA can try again for passage. Ironically, the ERA can actually harm women’s interests by wiping out laws designed to protect women’s interests and will create legal chaos in a debate that will certainly follow over the definition of ‘sex,’” noted Hawkins. “The abortion lobby is trying to use stealth to quietly set up an even more radical abortion framework through the ERA under the pretense of women’s rights.”
- Students for Life Action lead a coalition effort to defeat the ERA in Virginia when it failed last year.
- Click here for a video describing ERA’s history and what’s at stake.
- For more on those efforts, including a letter to legislators laying out some of the problems with the ERA, click here.
- Hawkins and Anne Schlafly Cori had an op-ed at The Federalist on the implications of the ERA. Click here to read.
- To learn more on Roe’s collapsing legal framework, click here.
For media interviews, e-mail Kristi at [email protected]