Democrats are pushing for the second time this year to add the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution.
The amendment was approved by Congress in 1972, and lawmakers then established a 10-year deadline to gain the necessary three-quarters of states —specifically, 38 — to ratify it. But by 1982, only 35 states had done so, and the amendment has been in limbo ever since. Even though three more states — Nevada, Illinois, and Virginia — have since ratified the amendment, others have rescinded their ratifications.
On Thursday, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., introduced a joint resolution arguing that the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) has met all the ratification requirements to become the 28th amendment to the Constitution, and just needs to be certified by the national archivist, Colleen Shogan.
"We're making clear that the Equal Rights Amendment has been properly ratified," Gillibrand said Thursday at a news conference, according to The Hill.
The lawmakers have been motivated to get the ERA into the Constitution since the Supreme Court ended the federal right to an abortion with its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization last year. They believe the ERA, which states that "equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex," will protect abortion rights.
Republicans believe the ERA is redundant because of the 14th amendment, which reads "no State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
Senate Republicans earlier this year blocked an effort by Democrats to remove that amendment's 1982 deadline and allow the ERA to be added to the Constitution.
"We are left out of the very Constitution we are sworn to protect," Bush, a member of the "Squad" of far-left wing congressional lawmakers, said, according to The Hill. "We protect it, but it doesn't protect us. So, let's change that."
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