OPINION:
Radical activists are attempting to raise the rotting corpse of the so-called Equal Rights Amendment, but thanks to the late, great Phyllis Schlafly, intelligent women are ready to drive a stake into the heart of the beast.
The ERA was never about gaining equality under the law for women. When it was debated and exposed from 1972 to 1982, Americans learned that the title was fraudulent, designed to cause people to nod in agreement at the mere sound of those beautiful words without ever bothering to ponder the amendment itself.
But Schlafly did bother to look behind the platitudes and then dared to take on the establishment and share the dangerous truth that the amendment was actually designed to create social chaos and give a power-hungry Congress near absolute control over every aspect of our lives.
Schlafly’s courageous efforts to protect American culture and time-honored truths inspired an army of women to rise up and fight the liars and their lies. When the ERA failed to be ratified by 38 states by the congressionally established deadline, Schlafly and her new organization, Eagle Forum, threw a huge banquet to celebrate its demise. I remember it well because I was fortunate enough to be there.
My mother was one of Phyllis’ Eagles, and they inspired me to love and appreciate individuality and freedom. Most Americans enjoyed and cherished the God-ordained differences between the two genders. It was just a natural part of our psyche in those days to understand that men and women are equal but different. As a senior in high school, I traveled my home state of Florida celebrating these truths and speaking out against the ERA.
We won. They lost. But as has become their M.O. whenever they lose, power-hungry liberals are attempting to thwart the rule of law and, under the leadership of Nancy Pelosi, destroy justice and our Constitution and culture forever. They are hoping that Americans — who don’t know even modern history or read beyond headlines and tweets — are ignorant and will support the ERA just because it has a pretty name.
Schlafly said the ERA was falsely “advertised as a great benefit to women.” Her brilliant and fearless daughter, Anne Cori, who today leads Eagle Forum with style and wisdom just as her mom did, explains: “The ERA does not put women in the Constitution; it puts ‘sex’ in the Constitution. ‘Sex’ has a lot of different definitions. The ERA would make women and men interchangeable in every single situation.”
To her point, the word “woman” appears nowhere in the intentionally vague language. The first section reads: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be abridged or denied by the United States or any state on account of sex.”
If the ERA passes, every single hard-fought legal protection that women have gained over the years will vanish. No longer will women be exempt from the military draft or from serving on the front lines of combat. Gender-specific prisons, locker rooms and sports teams will be illegal. Social Security benefits for stay-at-home moms will be gone; women’s shelters will be shuttered; health care benefits specific to women will be declared unconstitutional. The financial loss to women will be devastating.
But there is an entity that will gain vast power: The federal government. Under Section 2 of the ERA, power that currently belongs to the states will be stripped away and given to Congress.
Perhaps the dirtiest little secret of the ERA is that it will enshrine in the Constitution a right to murder pre-born children — and with taxpayer funding. Pregnancy will be treated as just another health issue, resulting in court-ordered public funding of abortion on demand.
Thankfully, a cadre of warriors is assembling to advance a culture that treasures the differences between women and men, that protects life and that fights federal tyranny. They will meet the architects of social chaos and the politicians they frighten head-on this week in Virginia, as the state Senate foolishly considers ratifying the dead ERA.
The legacy of Phyllis Schlafly courses through the veins of women in organizations like Eagle Forum, Concerned Women for America, the Family Foundation, Students for America, the Family Research Council, the Susan B. Anthony List and Young Women for America, among others.
They will fight wherever the ERA attempts to rear its ugly head. Their battle cry is perfect: “Celebrate womanhood. Do NOT ERAse it.”
⦁ Rebecca Hagelin can be reached at rebecca@rebeccahagelin.com.
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