For Immediate Release: February 28, 2023
Contact: Mary Owens, [email protected]
Ignoring the process for amending the Constitution to install a ‘right’ to abortion is radical & harmful for the unborn and women
Washington, D.C. – In a continued push to enshrine a so-called “right” to abortion on demand up to birth in the U.S. Constitution, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing advocating that Congress declare the Equal Rights Amendment ratified – ignoring the long-expired deadline and the will of several states that have rescinded their support.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America denounced the vote and announced that votes on the legislation will be scored, and double-weighted, in each member’s profile on SBA Pro-Life America’s National Pro-Life Scorecard. The group’s letter to U.S. senators points out:
“Even the most egregious laws and regulations can be rolled back eventually, but a constitutional amendment would indefinitely block state and federal legislation to protect the unborn and the consciences of Americans who do not wish to participate in abortion.”
SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser added:
“Democrats’ push to rewrite the rules to install the ERA is about enshrining abortion on demand until birth in the U.S. Constitution – the opposite of equal rights. During past attempts, abortion advocates repeatedly rejected language to make the ERA abortion neutral. Ever since it became clear that the Supreme Court might finally restore the right to protect unborn children to the people, they explicitly argue the ERA is necessary to block pro-life laws that could otherwise save more than 125,000 lives in the first year after Dobbs alone.
“Numerous authorities confirm that the ERA deadline expired long ago and its proponents must start over. Ignoring the process for amending the Constitution to install a ‘right’ to abortion is radical and would have enormous harmful consequences for the unborn and women. We take this threat very seriously and votes will be reflected in members’ profiles on our Scorecard.”
In January of 2020, the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel published a decisive opinion stating that the 1972 ERA has expired and that new efforts to ratify it would be considered null and void. Then in 2021, an Obama-appointed federal district judge concurred that recent attempts to ratify the ERA by Nevada (2017), Illinois (2018), and Virginia (2020) have no legal effect and do not count towards the required three-fourths states needed to ratify the constitutional amendment.
SBA Pro-Life America is tracking the abortion extremism of the Biden-Harris administration at sbaprolife.org/biden-harris.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America is a network of more than one million pro-life Americans nationwide, dedicated to ending abortion by electing national leaders and advocating for laws that save lives, with a special calling to promote pro-life women leaders.
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