ERA actually is bad for women

On April 11, the Illinois Senate passed the Equal Rights Amendment as Senate Joint Resolution Constitution Amendment 4 (SJRCA4), with the help of eight Republican pro-life senators.

Proponents of ERA here in Illinois include the National Organization for Women and the American Civil Liberties Union. Both organizations are seeking a society in which no biological differences are recognized between men and women.

Although ERA might sound good, the language of the ERA amendment is gender neutral, with no legal definitions of sex differences between men and women. Accordingly, ERA has nothing to do with equal pay or equal rights, or it would be a duplication of the 14th Amendment.

Should ERA become a constitutional amendment, all states would have to conform, whether they wanted to or not, yet Republican senators voting for ERA claim ERA will not affect Illinois, citing that Illinois has its own laws protecting women. They are ignoring the fact that a constitution amendment supersedes state law.

Can you imagine the havoc ERA would cause with sports teams, especially in professional teams, if they were open to women?

And what about women being drafted into the armed services, gender neutral bathrooms and gender neutral high school sports teams?

For those Illinoisans who are pro-life, since abortion is unique to women, any attempt to restrict a woman's access to abortion is seen, under the rules of the ERA, as a form of sex discrimination.

Call your Illinois state representatives. Tell them to vote NO on ERA.

Nancy Thorner

Lake Bluff