Feminists trying to revive the 1970s-era federal Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) suffered a "stunning setback" when a panel of the Arkansas Legislature voted down a ratification resolution (HJR 1002) today.
Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), said prior to the vote, 20 House co-sponsors abandoned the measure by withdrawing their support.
"Many ERA supporters were not candid with the legislators, and that came back to bite them," Johnson said. "Some of the lawmakers changed their minds once they learned how ERAs have been used to require tax funding of abortion in New Mexico and Connecticut."
A group called 4ERA is promoting the amendment as a way to guarantee so-called abortion rights and had targeted Arkansas, Arizona, Illinois, Florida, Missouri and Virginia.
To succeed, 4ERA must get 38 states to ratify the ERA. Thirty-five states had done so by 1972, but five states have since rescinded their approval -- Nebraska, Tennessee, Idaho, Kentucky and South Dakota -- leaving the group eight states short.
Johnson said Congress attached a seven-year deadline for ratification, which ended in 1972, the year Illinois lawmakers failed to approve the amendment.
The U.S. Supreme Court declared the ERA dead in 1972. Johnson said it's questionable whether it could legally be revived.
