Bill Summary

The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Some supporters call it the "Women's Equality Amendment". The proposed amendment would add to the Constitution the words, "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article." In some states that have already added something similar to their state constitutions, courts have used it to deny limits on abortion.

In order for this amendment to be acceptable, an abortion-neutral clause must be added to ensure the ERA won’t change a state’s existing abortion policy. Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner proposed this clause in 1983: "Nothing in this article [the ERA] shall be construed to grant, secure, or deny any right relating to abortion or the funding thereof."

Bill Status

Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) in the Senate and Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) in the House introduced this and it was referred to Committee in March 2007.

Bill History

Alice Paul was the original author of the ERA. She was a suffragist and after working tirelessly to get the 19th Amendment passed, continued her efforts for women’s rights. She is quoted as calling abortion “the ultimate exploitation of women.” Paul would likely disagree with the courts’ interpretation of her ERA as a loophole for abortion.