Alito claims that Roe falls because privacy is not a Constitutional right and that the text of the Constitution must explicitly provide for that which women assert.

Guess what, pal?  Women have EQUAL rights now under the Constitution, as of January 27th of 2020 when Virginia became the 38th state to ratify ERA.
The E.R.A. became effective Federal law two years after ratification, on January 27th of 2022, as per Article V of the same US Constitution.

So unless there is some male equivalent to forcing women to gestate against their will that the State is willing to perpetrate on men and men are willing to accept, the State will be unable to compel women’s pregnancy under the protections of the Equal Rights Amendment.

Women will win reproductive rights under the rubric of equality, using E.R.A. — should the Democrats do the right thing and publish and enforce the amendment instead of pandering for votes in November that they presently do not deserve.

The E.R.A. has immediate power to save women’s reproductive autonomy.

The worst part of this situation (the deliberate failure of Biden/Harris to use the best tool at hand to safeguard women’s rights at this high-stakes moment) is the complete ignorance on the part of the public of what is going on and the feigned ignorance and corrupt collusion by our politicians who are pretending not to know what is going on — I’m looking at YOU, Senators in the 38 States that ratified E.R.A.

[By the way, you can find your Senators on our home page; scroll to the list of states, click on yours, and then call them up and ask them to tell Biden to publish E.R.A. immediately or you will never vote for them again or give them another dollar.  If that doesn’t work I’ll eat my Handmaid’s Bonnet.]

Co-counsel Arlaine Rockey and Gina Collias filed a motion in the Supreme Court case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization on behalf of ERA North Carolina Alliance arguing the case is wrongly decided because it fails to consider the 28th Amendment/Equal Rights Amendment, which was added to the U.S. Constitution in January 2020 and became effective Jan. 27, 2022. Read their full statement here.

It is absolutely maddening to read Jill Lepore’s new article in The New Yorker, entitled: After the Failed Senate Bill on Abortion; If the Democratic response to Justice Alito’s draft opinion was largely rhetorical, was it also a missed opportunity? In which she muses if we only had something like the Equal Rights Amendment on the table to help women out of this horrific quandary…  Missed opportunity, indeed…arrrrrghhh.

Here is an excerpt:

“Politicians hoping to raise money off this latest battle are keen to depict it as a contest between the two parties, even though the people who have suffered most during this long war are poor women, poor families, and poor children. Structurally, the contest isn’t between Democrats and Republicans but between the people and the Constitution.

Women have been trying to gain equal rights since the founding of this country, including by constitutional amendment. The last meaningful amendment to the Constitution—lowering the voting age to eighteen—was ratified in July, 1971. That December, the Court heard arguments in Roe. In March, 1972, Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment and sent it to the states, where it was expected to be quickly ratified. That May, John George Schmitz, a Republican congressman representing California, introduced on the floor another proposal, the first right-to-life amendment, which would bar the states from depriving any individual of life “from the moment that he is conceived.” In the fifty years since, versions of this amendment have been introduced in Congress more than six hundred times.

If constitutional amendments were ratified by a simple majority of the popular vote (rather than by a two-thirds majority in each chamber of Congress and three-quarters of the states), the Equal Rights Amendment would have passed in the nineteen-seventies, and the right-to-life amendment would have failed.

The people, as the political scientist Austin Ranney observed, “are considerably more receptive than members of Congress to constitutional change.” Americans polled in the seventies and eighties supported nine of eleven proposed constitutional amendments, including the direct election of the President, congressional term limits, and prayer in schools. The right-to-life amendment was the only one they absolutely rejected. The numbers have remained steady ever since, with a little under two-thirds opposed, and about a third in favor.

Meanwhile, since the seventies, well more than three-quarters of Americans have consistently favored the E.R.A., including through its seeming failure, in 1982.”

OMG.  Does anyone know Jill Lepore, or know someone who knows her? “Its seeming failure“?! For Gods sakes, can we get her correct updated information on the ERA?  How could the editors of The New Yorker allow her to omit the recent ratifications of Nevada, Illinois and Virginia? Or the lawsuits? Or the OLC memo from Trump?  Or the criminal refusal of the recently-retired Archivist to publish E.R.A.?  Or Biden’s disingenuous, toothless “support” for E.R.A. while he continues to fight it in court?

Is it just us or is there something very strange about this whole thing?  The New York Times said: The E.R.A. has thus become the Schrödinger’s Cat of amendments — simultaneously part of and not part of the Constitution. And now, while half of our politicians are talking about a National abortion ban and restricting contraception, the Biden/Harris administration is pretending not to have the power to make the E.R.A. law and solve the problem. Seriously, why is that? Are we already living in the Metaverse?  What part of “the ERA was ratified and should be published immediately and used to fight back in these repro rights lawsuits” is unclear? Why is no one in power taking the proper action?

Also, does enforced childbearing for women dictate enforced child support from the biological father?  Since we appear to be regressing to a pre-Roe era, will the State also be facilitating auto-deductions from the father’s bank account for 18 years to support the unbounded fruit of their loins?  Are American men actually aware that if their partner gets pregnant and she has no choice but to birth the child, he also has no choice but to be father to said child, with the attendant legal and financial responsibilities? Hmmm.  Are you guys sure you’ve thought this through?

On a more positive note, Equal Means Equal was proud to partner with LAANE (Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy) at the annual Women for a New Los Angeles Luncheon where EME President Kamala Lopez served as the Mistress of Ceremonies.

In partnership with the LA Federation of Labor, LAANE helped lead the coalition that won the 2015 minimum wage increase to $15 an hour in the City and County of Los Angeles.  The Federal minimum wage is still $7.25 per hour.

Support for workers’ rights is support for women’s rights and EME is proud to stand with LAANE and the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, Teamsters Locals 986, 396, 399, 2010, UFCW 770 and 324, UNITE HERE Local 11, IBEW Local 18, United Teachers Los Angeles, the American Federation of Teachers, the Los Angeles City Council, the Los Angeles County Supervisors, Community Coalition and many other labor organizations present at the event who consistently stand up for the rights of workers to organize and demand a living wage.

EME is a longstanding & committed
supporter of workers’ unions.
EME believes women & labor should
join forces & organize
to fight for their combined interests
against the status quo.

Finally here are some recent materials of note pertinent to the situation with E.R.A.:

Wendy Murphy’s article in the Boston Herald: Losing Roe means end to critical rights for American women

Katherine Franke’s Op-Ed in The Hill: If there was ever a time for the Equal Rights Amendment, it’s now

And a new video from the ERA Coalition urging the public to push for a vote on SJ1 (the deadline removal bill):

Here’s EME’s video on why ERA saves Repro Rights:

Thank you for your kind support.  Less than 2% of all charitable donations are received by women’s organizations – please help us continue to fight for the E.R.A. by donating to Equal Means Equal today.
Another way you can help is to send this email to someone else and tell them about the urgent fight for the E.R.A. There is strength in numbers and EME membership is free. Urge them to join Equal Means Equal today and stay updated on the fight for E.R.A.

With love and gratitude,

Kamala, Natalie, Joel and the EME team