Days after a federal appeals court killed a chance for the Equal Rights Amendment to be added immediately to the U.S. Constitution, a local Congresswoman says she’s in opposition to it.
15th District Congresswoman Mary Miller says she’s in opposition to Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, Senator Dick Durbin, Lieutenant Governor Julianna Stratton and many other state Democrats when it comes to the Equal Rights Amendment being placed in the Constitution.
Miller tweeted out yesterday that she had joined the Concerned Women of America, a Christian conservative women’s activist group, in opposing the ERA because they say it erases “legal distinctions that protect our daughters.” The Concerned Women for America group says the ERA would allow federal courts and legislative powers to reinterpret every law making a distinction based on “sex” or “gender.” According to the group the ERA’s ratification would cause the following: “This means that any limits on abortion or denying taxpayer-funded abortions would be seen as sex discrimination. Women-only safe spaces like sex-segregated bathrooms, locker rooms, or domestic violence shelters could be seen as a form of sex discrimination. A woman could potentially be forced into military service against her will.”
The evangelical Christian non profit group has been in existence since 1978, and has long been identified as part of the New Christian Right. The group has stood in opposition against feminism and the break down of traditional gender roles in American society.
Miller says the ERA would “risk the safety of our daughters and diminish their opportunities by erasing what it means to be a woman.”
Proponents of the ERA have vowed to fight on and have the ERA brought back up for ratification.