CHICAGO – When a mail piece hit mailboxes with GOP State Senator Michael Connelly boasting about his support last session to pass the Equal Right Amendment, Illinois Right to Life Action responded with a strong "rebuke."
Senator Connelly can no longer count on district pro-lifers to send him back to Springfield, the group said. The first-term senator chose not to respond to the criticism when Illinois Review requested reaction.
“Pro-lifers cannot count on legislators who tout they’re pro-life but surrender to the pro-abortion regime in our state. This will not be tolerated any longer,” said Executive Director of Illinois Right to Life Mary Kate Knorr. “For years, Senator Connelly has relied on pro-life voters to keep his seat. However, he has made it very clear by voting for the ERA and bragging about it in this mail piece that pro-life issues are not a priority for him.”
The Equal Rights Amendment is a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that, in practice, would put abortion restrictions across the country at serious risk if it were ratified, the group said. The Illinois legislature ratified the ERA in May of 2018.
Connelly’s mail piece emphasized that he is a “strong supporter support of women’s rights,” exemplified in his vote for the ERA.
Other prolife leadership joined the criticism of Connelly.
“I’m disappointed with Senator Michael Connelly for voting for the ERA and then bragging about it, as we have seen,” said IRLA Legislative Chairman Ralph Rivera. “This is in direct opposition to the stance he took in 2014 when he voted against the ERA.”
Past litigation has shown that the ERA is not used to guarantee the equality of the sexes under law, but to justify increasing abortion on demand and forcing taxpayers to cover the cost.
In both New Mexico and Connecticut, state courts have cited their state ERAs to justify the statewide expansion of abortion. In 1998, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled that under the ERA, abortion cannot be regulated any differently than the “medically necessary procedures” that men seek, the group said.
The Connelly piece:
