WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressional democrats are pushing to make the Equal Rights Amendment part of the US Constitution. Members said this gender-equality amendment has met the necessary requirements and that a decades old deadline is arbitrary.
The ERA is a proposed constitutional amendment that will guarantee equality under the law for all people regardless of their gender. It’s been one hundred years since the ERA was first proposed and democrats said the amendment is needed now more than ever in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling striking down Roe v. Wade and other potential rulings that could jeopardize other things like access to contraception, denying equal pay and marriage equality.
“The ERA Now resolution is a blueprint for the real change,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D- NY).
Members said the ERA has met it’s ratification requirements and should be finalized immediately by the national archivist. However, critics argue a deadline for the ratification stands in the way from finalizing the proposed amendment.
“We won’t let paperwork keep us out of the constitution and we won’t let an arbitrary deadline stand in the way of fundamental equality,” said Rep. Cori Bush (D- MO).
Legal experts said constitutional amendments have taken their own unique path to ratification and there’s nothing straightforward or clear about the constitutional amendment process. Democrats argue the deadline is arbitrary and introducing a resolution that says the ERA is already the law of the land.
“We are one signature away from correcting all of that,” said Sen. Gillibrand. “One signature would constitutionally prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex and prohibits states from continuing to strip away every single one of our constitutional rights.”
