85% of UN Member States in the world have constitutions that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex and/or gender. The United States is not one of them.
By rightfully framing access to reproductive healthcare, including access to legal abortion, as fundamental to ensuring gender equality and preventing sex discrimination, the Equal Rights Amendment would directly impact the way SCOTUS decides abortion-related and other reproductive rights cases, based on equality rather than privacy, and what federal laws Congress is encouraged to, and discouraged from, passing.
As part of our I Need the ERA because… campaign, launched to mark Women’s Equality Day 2022, we take a closer look at how the ERA would help move the needle on four crucial issues for women and girls, including access to abortion.
I need the ERA because…a girl is not a wife – Child marriage
It is estimated by Unchained at Last that about 300,000 children were married in the United States between 2000 and 2018, the…
I need the ERA because… I have the right to bodily integrity – FGM
Despite the prevalence of the practice in the USA and the persisting risk to many women and girls, 20% of American states do …
I need the ERA because… one in three women experience violence in her lifetime – Gender Based Violence
Data shows that marginalized communities, such as indigenous women, Black women, and young women will be disproportionately a…
I need the ERA because…LGBTQ+ rights are human rights
Because discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation is sex discrimination, the ERA will make it much…
I need the ERA because…paid care is a right – gender equality and the care economy
For more than a century, feminists have realized that omitting sex discrimination from the Constitution presents a major barr…
I need the ERA because…without the ERA, the US violates international law
In October 2023, the United States was reviewed by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, and for the first time, a UN tr…
I need the ERA because…paid care is a right – gender equality and the care economy
For more than a century, feminists have realized that omitting sex discrimination from the Constitution presents a major barr…
I need the ERA because…the voice of the US legal profession endorses it!
In August 2024, The American Bar Association, the largest national volunteer association of lawyers in the world, adopted&nbs…