**Previously Recorded by Phyllis Schlafly // 2/6/09**
The proposed Equal Rights Amendment (known as ERA) was vigorously debated across America from 1972 to 1982 and defeated after 20 states rejected it. The Supreme Court declared it died on June 30, 1982. Now some feminists are trying to revive this dead carcass, and pretend that if three states ratify it, it can be considered part of the U.S. Constitution. In addition to the fact that the feminists are using dishonest means to try to promote what they claim is “equal rights,” let’s review a few of the reasons why the American people rejected ERA. ERA would lock into the Constitution policies that the American people do not want.
- ERA would require taxpayer funding of abortions.
- ERA would allow the courts to legalize same-sex marriages.
- ERA would deprive wives and widows of their benefits in Social Security. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg explained this effect of ERA in her book called Sex Bias in the U.S. Code. Ginsburg wrote that the “equality principle” of ERA requires us to get rid of “archaic” notions such as the “dependency” of a homemaker on her husband’s financial support. So, beware! A vote for ERA would be a vote to take away Social Security checks received by most American mothers and grandmothers.
- ERA would require women to be equally assigned to all combat positions in the military, positions from which women are now exempted such as ground infantry and submarines. If we are going to have any nasty wars against the bad guys, we do not want social experimentation or judicial activism to interfere with military readiness.
- ERA would transfer enormous areas of law from the states to the Federal Government, such as marriage, divorce, adoptions, schools, prisons, and insurance.
The United States said NO to the Equal Rights Amendment years ago. Let ERA rest in peace.