The Equal Rights Amendment: If not now, when?

The United States has still not ratified the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to guarantee women the kind of constitutional protection that other countries, like Canada, under Section 28 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, provide. Written in 1923, the ERA 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." It was introduced into every session of Congress until it passed in 1972. Ratification of a constitutional amendment also requires passage by 38 states. So far, 35 states have ratified the ERA. Five later voted to rescind their ratifications, an action that has yet to be ruled on by the Supreme Court as to its constitutionality. Originally, the deadline for ratification of the ERA was 1979, but Congress later extended it to 1982. ERA supporters say the amendment needs only three more states to approve it, and that at any time Congress could vote to extend the deadline again. In the past decade, some women's groups have pushed the "three state strategy" to ratify the ERA, and resolutions have appeared from time to time in several states. In Arkansas, an ERA bill fell one vote short of receiving the House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee's endorsement on Feb. 7, which would have allowed a vote on the floor of the House. The resolution can be brought back up in the Committee later during this session. After a three-hour hearing, members of the committee split 10-10 on HJR 1002, which needed 11 votes to advance. The Democratic Party of Arkansas favored ratification. While the Republican Party of Arkansas took no official stance, the Republican members of the committee voted against it. John DiPippa, assistant dean of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's William H. Bowen School of Law, told the committee that the timing question is up to Congress and that it's not too late to ratify the ERA. The resolution's sponsor, Rep. Lindsley Smith (D-Fayetteville) said the vast majority of US citizens support the ERA, and that 72 percent believe it is already part of the Constitution. She said it's only right to include an amendment against sex discrimination in the US Constitution after the government pushed for Japan, Iraq and Afghanistan to do so in their constitutions. David Pryor said he voted for the ERA while serving as a US senator in 1972, and as governor of Arkansas he supported ratification, imploring lawmakers to finish what he couldn't. Organizations such as the National Right to Life Committee, Arkansas Right to Life and Eagle Forum voiced opposition. Opponents claimed that New Mexico's state ERA was the basis of a 1998 ruling of the New Mexico Supreme Court, which said state funds could be used for medically necessary abortions. DiPippa said the New Mexico case was unusual: in three other states the opposite happened, and that the Supreme Court has ruled that the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause does not mandate funding of abortion. Opponents also argued that because the Supreme Court overturned a state law outlawing interracial marriage, the high court could overturn state laws banning same-sex marriage if the ERA passed. Supporters explained that sex is not the same as sexual orientation. DiPippa said that a study of 19 states that have ERAs in their state constitutions found that they had almost no effect on the outcomes of court cases. "My legal opinion is there is very little that will change in the law, and that applies to questions of same-sex marriage, abortion funding and all the other issues," he said. In Arizona, another unratified state, over 30 lawmakers are currently trying to pass HCR 2046 and SCR 1019, which would ratify the ERA. "It's 2007 and women still do not have the same rights and opportunities as men in society," said Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Phoenix), a sponsor of one of the resolutions. "We need to try and finish the work that women started years and years ago." Thirteen other states have left the ERA unratified: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah and Virginia. New ERA resolutions have been introduced in the legislatures of Florida, Illinois, Missouri and Virginia according to 4ERA, a national organization promoting the amendment's ratification.