Drafters of the bishops’ statement included Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Philadelphia, and Bishops Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester and Michael Burbidge of Arlington.
The ERA was first introduced in Congress a century ago, in 1923. The amendment 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.”
In 1972, Congress submitted the ERA to the states for ratification, requiring a three-fourths majority to add the amendment to the Constitution. Ultimately, the amendment failed to garner the required 38 states, neither by the original 1979 deadline nor the subsequent extension to 1982. In addition, five states rescinded their original ratification of the amendment.
Despite the expiration of the deadline, states such as Nevada and Illinois continued to ratify the amendment, with Virginia becoming the 38th state to approve the amendment in 2020.
The bishops noted that activists for abortion rights, such as the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) have touted the ERA as a means of overturning pro-life laws throughout the country. NARAL stated in 2019 that the ERA, if ratified, “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.”
In at least two states with equal-rights amendments with language analogous to that of the federal ERA — Connecticut and New Mexico — courts have interpreted the amendments to require government funding of abortion, the bishops said.
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