From the SFLA Blog

House Efforts to Tamper With a Legal Deadline “Shows the Desperation of the Abortion Lobby”

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Kristi Hamrick - 13 Feb 2020

Posted on behalf of Students for Life Action.  

Predicts the ERA – Everything Related to Abortion Act – won’t make it into the Constitution

MEDIA ADVISORY: Following the ERA vote in the House, SFL Action’s Kristi Hamrick and Michele Hendrickson available for comment. Vote on removing the deadline from the ERA expected about 10:45 a.m. eastern.

 

“As Justice Ginsburg herself has noted, the ERA has failed and needs to go back to the drawing board. It would actually destroy a framework of laws designed specifically for women and lay the foundation for abortion in the Constitution – harming women born and preborn,” said SFL Action’s Kristan Hawkins. “Today’s vote shows the desperation of the abortion lobby as they attempt to tamper with a legal deadline to force abortion into the law.”

 

WASHINGTON D.C. (02-13-2020) –Students for Life Action President Kristan Hawkins said today that the “Trojan Horse for abortion known as the ERA, more accurately called the Everything Related to Abortion Act, cannot be allowed to sneak its way into the Constitution. Not only would women’s interests be harmed as the amendment would wipe out protections specified for women, preborn women would be harmed as the ERA becomes a justification for abortion. The current push for the ERA is designed to do what Roe never could – find a permanent place for abortion in the law.” Hawkins and others will join together in opposition to H.J. Res 79  designed to remove a deadline for passage from the ERA that twice has failed to earn sufficient support for ratification in the time set.

“As Justice Ginsburg herself has noted, the ERA has failed and needs to go back to the drawing board. It would actually destroy a framework of laws designed specifically for women and lay the foundation for abortion in the Constitution – harming women born and preborn,” said Hawkins.

Earlier this week, at Georgetown Law SchoolGinsburg analyzed the ERA, noting that having failed to pass in time and having lost the support of five states since the mid-1980s, the ERA needed to go back to the drawing board.

From the video: 

JUDGE M. MARGARET McKEOWNSo leaving aside whether any deadlines could be extended, what’s your prognosis on when we will get an Equal Rights Amendment on the federal level?JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURGWell, I would like to see a new beginning. I’d like it to start over. There’s too much controversy about latecomers —Virginia, long after the deadline passed. Plus, a number of states have withdrawn their ratification. So, if you count a latecomer on the plus side, how can you disregard states that said, “we’ve changed our minds?”

For those uncertain about whether the ERA will actually impact abortion, two state supreme courts – armed with state ERAs – have ruled that taxpayer funded abortion was required. The abortion industry is well aware and their support for ERA is loud and strong.

In their own words:

o   NARAL Pro-Choice America: “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.”

o   NARAL Pro-Choice America: “The ERA will help protect women’s rights to… abortion.  With five anti-choice justices on the Supreme Court and Roe v. Wadeon the chopping block, it’s more important than ever that we codify women’s bodily autonomy in our laws.”

o   National Organization for Women (NOW): “An ERA –properly interpreted – could negate the hundreds of laws that have been passed restricting access to abortion care and contraception.”

o   Emily Martin (general counsel for the National Women’s Law Center)said that the ERA would enable courts to rule that restrictions on abortion “perpetuate gender inequality.” 

o   Erin Matson (co-director of Reproaction): “Abortion restrictions amount to sex discrimination because they single out people for unfair treatment on the basis of sex, and a federal ERA could provide a backstop to fight the wave of restrictions on abortion.”

o   Erin Matson (co-director of Reproaction): “In a 1986 case in Connecticut and a 1999 case in New Mexico, ERAs adopted into state constitutions were cited when striking down restrictions on funding for abortions.”

o   Kelli Garcia (Senior Counsel, National Women’s Law Center): “The ERA would help create a basis to challenge abortion restrictions. We see the ERA as another tool that would strengthen our existing protections.”

Learn more about SFL Action’s efforts to protect women from the ERA at https://www.exposeera.org

And contact Congress at https://studentsforlife.quorum.us/campaign/ERA/

To view a video explaining the history of the ERA and what ratification would mean, click here.

Hawkins has written extensively on the dangers of the ERA as well as overseen campaigns to oppose it. Read her analysis at the Washington Timesthe Federalist, and recently at RealClearPolitics.

For interviews or analysis, e-mail Kristi Hamrick at [email protected].

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Students for Life of America is the nation’s largest, pro-life, youth organization. Headquartered in Fredericksburg, VA, SFLA serves more than 1200 groups on college, universities, high school and middle school campuses in all 50 states.

 

Students for Life Action is the c4 arm of Students for Life and engages the Pro-Life Generation to create a post-Roe America.

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