Graham: “House Effort to Ignore the Law When it Comes to the Expiration of the Equal Rights Amendment Will be Rejected by the Senate”

WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) today made this statement regarding House Democrats’ efforts to revive the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).

“The House effort to ignore the law when it comes to the expiration of the Equal Rights Amendment will be rejected by the Senate.

“I completely concur with Justice Ginsburg’s public statements about the need to reissue the amendment.

“It is clear the statutory period to have passed the ERA expired decades ago and it would be necessary for it to be reintroduced to have constitutional viability.

“Also it is not lost upon me and others that this latest effort to revive the amendment has much to do about abortion, contrary to what Speaker Pelosi may say.

“If you have any doubt, simply read some of the statements being issued by pro-abortion groups regarding the ERA.

“I can assure you, the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Republican-controlled Senate do not share the House’s view about how to proceed on the Equal Rights Amendment.”

Pro-Abortion Group Statements on the Equal Rights Amendment:

NARAL Pro-Choice America:

• “With its ratification, the ERA would reinforce the constitutional right to abortion by clarifying that the sexes have equal rights, which would require judges to strike down anti-abortion laws because they violate both the constitutional right to privacy and sexual equality.”
• “The ERA will help protect women’s rights to… abortion. With five anti-choice justices on the Supreme Court and Roe v. Wade on the chopping block, it’s more important than ever that we codify women’s bodily autonomy in our laws.”

National Organization for Women (NOW): “An ERA –properly interpreted – could negate the hundreds of laws that have been passed restricting access to abortion care and contraception.”

Alexis McGill Johnson, acting president and CEO of Planned Parenthood: "Advocates for the ERA acknowledge that abortion needs to be part of the conversation. Any debate over women’s rights, they say, must also address control over when and whether to have children. 'There are no equal rights for women without access to abortion, plain and simple.’”