Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), SJRCA 4 presently remains on first reading in the Senate. The Constitutional resolution was introduced in February 2017 and a committee hearing was held on April 2017. There was no action on this resolution since then until this month in which several senators have added their names to the list of co-sponsors and some other movement concerning amendments and such. This leads us to believe it is may be on the move. Now the ERA is a Constitutional amendment, so it does not have a deadline. Therefore it can be considered in the Senate this year or even next year, but when it does come up for a vote, we can count on it being done quickly and without advance notice. Passage of a constitutional amendment requires a 3/5 majority vote to pass.
If voted on, and we expect it will, it will be the 16th time it has been voted on in Illinois. Was not 15 times “NO” not “No” enough?
Kill this Abominable Constitutional Amendment Once and for All!
History of the ERA:
- Passage of the ERA would add these words to the U.S. Constitution: “Equality of rights under law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex.”
- The ERA would constitutionally remove all legal distinction between sexes. Men and women would be treated identically in value and in nature, as well as integrating same-sex, bi-sexual, and transgender attraction into the U.S. Constitution.
- Federally protected LGBTQ sex rights would be used to permit unrestricted access to opposite-sex spaces and activities, to men and women who identify as the gender they are not.
- The ERA could very well affect almost every area of life including Social Security, Medicare, insurance benefits, and pro-life issues.
- The time limit for ratification of the ERA ended in 1979, but Congress granted an extension until 1982. In 1981, a U.S. district court ruled that the extension was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court dismissed the extension as moot.
- From 1972 – 2016, the Illinois General Assembly voted “NO” on the ERA 15 times.
This issue is what launched CWA in 1978. We stand strong and will not back down!
This amendment can be voted on at any time, so please act now!
TAKE ACTION
- Contact your state senators today! If you know who he/she is, then click here to find their contact information. If you don’t know who your senator is, then click here to find out their name and contact information based on your address. Tell them, “15 times ‘NO’ on the ERA means ‘NO!’” Be sure to let them know that you are a member of Concerned Women for America of Illinois. Leave a message after hours if needed.
- Forward this alert to everyone you know – especially your pastor and members of your congregation.
PRAY for:
- The Equal Rights Amendment to be put to rest once and for all!
- Pastors and the Christian community to exercise their constitutional right to oppose bad legislation.
- A return to Biblical values in our great state and in America.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” – Edmund Burke
Debbie Leininger
State Director
CWA of Illinois
director@illinois.cwfa.org
815-297-2918
Get involved with CWA of Illinois. There is a place for you. You are needed!