SPRINGFIELD – The daughter of the late ERA opponent Phyllis Schlafly will be at the State Capitol Tuesday to speak directly with Illinois House members about the problems the Equal Rights Amendment would bring upon the nation if Illinois were to pass it.
"The Equal Rights Amendment is a fraud that will harm women and children," Anne Schlafly Cori wrote in an email to Eagle Forum members over the weekend. "Help me to Stop ERA this week. Join me in Springfield, Illinois to pass out baby socks, which represent that ERA will remove all legal restrictions on abortion including taxpayer-financing of abortion."
The ERA will enshrine abortion in the U.S. Constitution and remove any and all laws that have differences based on sex, Cori said.
The amendment. which passed the Illinois Senate 43 to 12 a few weeks ago, will need 71 votes in the Illinois House in order to consider Illinois among the states that have ratified the proposed US Constitution amendment. Out of the House's 110 state reps, 71 will need to support the ratification. There are 67 Democrats in the IL House, meaning all of them plus four Republicans will need to support SJRCA 4.
One Republican that is not running for re-election – State Rep. Steve Andersson – has committed to supporting the measure.
ERA sponsors say they intend to use the amendment – if it is eventually ratified by 38 states – to overturn all of any state's restrictions on abortion. It will call for women to be drafted into the military as men have been in the past if the draft were to be re-established. The ERA could be used to remove any special rights based on gender or sex – possibly even removing Social Security assistance for homemaking women.
Thus far, 35 states have ratified the ERA – although the 5th Amendment's seven year limit for passage was not met in 1979.
Eagle Forum is calling for assistance to lobby in Springfield on Tuesday, May 8 at 10:30 am. They will meet at the Stratton office building cafeteria, or meet Anne at the door to the House at noon.
Phyllis Schlafly debated Betty Friedan on the ERA in 1976:
