ERA or Error? President Biden Calls Equal Rights Amendment ‘Law of the Land’
On Friday outgoing President Joe Biden made a surprising announcement declaring the Equal Rights Amendment “the law of the land.”
Congress referred the federal Equal Rights Amendment to the state legislatures for ratification in 1972. If approved by enough states, the measure would amend the U.S. Constitution to say, “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”
However, the amendment’s legal status has been in limbo for nearly 50 years, and federal courts have even ruled against adding it to the U.S. Constitution.
The Equal Rights Amendment is intended to prevent discrimination on the basis of sex, but its wording would likely cause a number of unintended consequences.
The ERA would arguably erase all distinctions between men and women in federal law.
That could affect everything from college fraternities and sororities at public universities to how men and women are housed in federal prisons to labor laws that protect women in the workplace to girls’ and boys’ athletics at public schools.
We’ve already seen how the transgender movement is threatening to destroy women’s sports in America. The Equal Rights Amendment would likely fuel that agenda.
States that have enacted measures similar to the ERA have even been forced to pay for abortions with taxpayer funds. In 2019, the ACLU told Congress, “the Equal Rights Amendment could provide an additional layer of protection against restrictions on abortion.”
Men and women should have equal rights under the law, but the ERA would likely fail to guarantee those rights.
That’s why major groups like National Right to Life, Concerned Women for America, and Eagle Forum oppose the federal Equal Rights Amendment.
That’s also why Family Council has opposed efforts to ratify the ERA in Arkansas as well.
President Biden cannot unilaterally decide that the Equal Rights Amendment is part of the U.S. Constitution. As he leaves office, it seems unlikely that the ERA will actually become “the law of the land.” Nevertheless, it’s important for Americans to understand how the amendment would likely hurt women, unborn children, and our country as a whole.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.
