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Hartzler and Dannenfelser: Congress About To Vote on Serious Threat to Women and Unborn

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The Equal Rights Amendment is dead, but that hasn’t stopped pro-abortion Democrats from shouting, “Long live the ERA.”

If you think it’s strange that an amendment that expired in the 1970s is making a comeback, like a zombie with bell bottoms and a shag haircut, at a time when American women have greater freedom than ever in our history, you’re not alone.

To be clear, it’s not the concept of equal rights that is problematic; unfortunately, the name is deceiving. It’s the fact that the ERA would roll back years of pro-life protections for the unborn.

Pro-abortion advocates in Congress are constantly looking for ways to promote a massive expansion of taxpayer funding for abortion on demand. This time they have latched onto the ERA as a vehicle to impose an abortion agenda on our nation that has overwhelmingly rejected it.

Radical groups that lobby for abortion expansion — like Planned Parenthood, NARAL and the ACLU, to name just a few — want the ERA passed because, in their own view, it would guarantee a right to taxpayer-funded abortion on demand. As far-fetched as that may sound, it is not unfounded — in fact, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the state’s ERA requires abortion funding.

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This would be a cataclysmic disaster to the ERA’s original author, feminist pioneer Alice Paul. Paul, whose close associates have attested to her passionate pro-life convictions, denounced that abortion activists hijacked her cause.

As Congress was debating the amendment when it was re-introduced nearly four decades ago, pro-abortion members of Congress rejected efforts to make its language explicitly abortion-neutral.

Congress passed the ERA and sent it to the states for ratification — with a deadline. From there, it fizzled out. Constitutional amendments require at least 38 states to ratify. Of the states that ratified prior to the deadline, five ended up rescinding their ratification.

The effort fell short, the deadline passed, and the amendment died.

Should Congress reject this decades-old amendment?

Since then, pro-abortion politicians have tried their hardest to resurrect it.

Three more states (Nevada, Illinois and Virginia) voted to ratify the ERA even though it had already expired. House Democrats, too, are pushing forward with a vote on a resolution erasing the deadline that expired four decades ago, in spite of a definitive opinion issued by the U.S. Department of Justice clarifying that the ERA is in fact dead and cannot be revived.

Even Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has stated that ERA proponents would have to start over.

In reality, abortion on demand poses a serious threat to women’s equality.

Since Roe v. Wade, abortion has violently ended the lives of more than 60 million unborn children and wounded countless mothers.

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Now a new analysis concludes that lethal discrimination — in the form of a preference for sons over daughters — is happening in America, resulting in as many as 8,400 missing girls due to sex-selection abortion for the years 2014-2018 alone.

American taxpayers should never be forced to fund the destruction of innocent human life — nor should they be made to finance part of a global war on baby girls under the guise of “equality.” This illegitimate attempt to insert a sweeping mandate for taxpayer-funded abortion on demand into the U.S. Constitution must be stopped.

We urge the public to contact their representatives today and ask them to send the ERA back to the annals of history.

The views expressed in this opinion article are those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by the owners of this website. If you are interested in contributing an Op-Ed to The Western Journal, you can learn about our submission guidelines and process here.

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Vicky Hartzler proudly represents the good people of Missouri’s Fourth Congressional District, which is comprised of 24 counties in West Central Missouri. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010 and serves on the House Armed Services and Agriculture Committees. Vicky, her husband Lowell, and their daughter, Tiffany, reside on a working farm near Harrisonville in Cass County.
Vicky Hartzler proudly represents the good people of Missouri’s Fourth Congressional District, which is comprised of 24 counties in West Central Missouri. Vicky is a wife, mother, life-long farmer, small business owner and a former public school teacher with a passion for life and for serving God and others. She grew up on a farm in Cass County, learned the value of hard work, graduated from Archie High School, then received a Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Missouri. She later earned a Master’s Degree in Education from the University of Central Missouri. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010 and serves on the House Armed Services and Agriculture Committees. Vicky, her husband Lowell, and their daughter, Tiffany, reside on a working farm near Harrisonville in Cass County.
Birthplace
Cass County, Missouri
Nationality
American
Education
B.S. Education, University of Missouri; M.A. Education, University of Central Missouri
Location
Cass County, Missouri




Marjorie Dannenfelser is president of the national pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List. She serves as national co-chair of the Pro-Life Voices for Trump coalition and is the author of the book "Life is Winning."




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