Pro-abortion activists rallied Monday outside the Supreme Court in support of the Equal Rights Amendment.
“ERA now,” the pro-abortion rallygoers chanted as they held signs reading “Safe abortion is a human right” and “Keep abortion legal.”
Competing pro-life and pro-abortion activists stood outside the court, chanting on the second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned 1973’s Roe v. Wade decision and sent abortion back to the voters in their respective states.
The rally, which was backed by the Women’s March, was held “to demand President [Joe] Biden publish the Equal Rights Amendment and restore our constitutional right to abortion.”
The Equal Rights Amendment declares: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”
The amendment has been debated for more than 50 years, with individuals such as the now-deceased Phyllis Schlafly leading the charge against the ERA, warning it would harm women’s rights by removing all distinctions between men and women.
The constitutional amendment was sent to the states for ratification in 1972, but fell three states short of winning the support of the requisite 38 states, even though the original seven-year ratification period was extended by Congress for 39 extra months. The final ratification deadline passed on June 30, 1982.
While some women at the pro-abortion rally were passionate about the need for the ERA, others did not even know what it is.
“I’m not too familiar,” one of the women said when asked what the ERA would do. “I just moved to this area. Could you tell me what the ERA stands for?”
“What is the ERA?” The Daily Signal asked another woman.
“Oh, I don’t know,” she said, noting that she lives in Maryland.
Rosie Couture, director of the Young Feminist Party, clearly defined the ERA and called on Biden to make the ERA “a reality” at the federal level.
“Young people are here on the ground protesting to get us toward justice, to not be just on the defense, but on the offense, but right now, the Supreme Court’s rolling back the clock, and we need federally elected leaders to step up,” Couture said.