Equal Rights Amendment Ratified By Illinois: States Yet To Approve ERA

After 45 years since Congress approved it and 37 years since its deadline, the Illinois House ratified the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) on Wednesday.

The ERA was approved in the house by a 72-45 vote, making it the 37th state to ratify the amendment. The last state prior to Illinois to approve the ERA was Nevada in 2017.

The ERA proposes "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex."

There are 13 U.S. states which are yet to ratify the ERA after it was passed by the Congress on March 22, 1972, following 84 to 8 votes in the Senate. The unratified states are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma South Carolina, Utah and Virginia.

Hawaii was the first state to ratify the federal amendment in 1972. Within a year of the Congress approving the amendment, 30 states agreed to sign the ERA into their state constitution. This gave supporters of the amendment hope that it would soon be embraced by other states, hence meeting the criteria of 38 out of 50 states needed to make it a part of the U.S. Constitution.

However, the process of ratification slowed down, with only five more states ratifying ERA between 1973 and the final ERA deadline in 1982. Hence, the amendment fell short of three states.

“I am appalled and embarrassed that the state of Illinois has not done this earlier,” said Democratic Rep. Stephanie Kifowit of Oswego, a Marine veteran, Chicago Tribune reported. “I am proud to be on this side of history and I am proud to support not only all the women that this will help, that this will send a message to, but I am also here to be a role model for my daughter.”

“This is about the United States Constitution, people. And half the people in this country aren’t in it,” Democratic Rep. Lou Lang, who sponsored the resolution in the House, said. “They aren’t included in the United States Constitution. Isn’t that enough for you to realize the historic moment and step back from predispositions you’ve had and your heels dug in the ground on this issue and that issue and the other issue?”

However, not everyone agreed with the decision to ratify the ERA.

“It will expand taxpayer funding of abortions, very well might roll back our parental notice (for minors to have an abortion) law and have other negative impacts on various abortion regulations,” Republican Rep. Peter Breen, an abortion rights opponent, said.

However, Republican Rep. Steve Andersson said ERA stood for more than abortion rights.

“This is about who we are as a people. This is about who we believe the state of Illinois is and should be, going forward,” he said. “But it’s more than just the state of Illinois. It’s about the United States of America and quite frankly, I believe it’s about the planet. I believe it’s about how we treat women and men.”

Geoffrey Stone, a professor at the University of Chicago who specializes in constitutional law, said at the present times, the ERA was symbolically important more than anything else.

“The main reason for adopting the Equal Rights Amendment today if one could legally, constitutionally do it would be the symbolic importance of it,” Stone said. “The rejection of it is in some ways insulting. So, the symbolic importance of it is to who we are as a nation — what our aspirations are, what our values are. That in itself is an important affirmation of who we are.”