STOP ERA

The Equal Rights Amendments

Book for women?

or

Boondoggle!

WHAT IS THE ERA?

The Equal Rights Amendments is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution which would become the 27th amendment if ratified by 3/4 of the state legislatures (38) by March of 1979. The Amendment reads:

Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.

Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.

So what's wrong with equal rights for women? How couls such a simple-sounding statement generate such strong feelings, pro and con, that the issues has become the most controversial piece of legislation in the country? What is at stake? Who will gain? Who will be the losers?

By mandating an absolute equality under the law, this amendment will take away many of the special rights women now enjoy because of the fact that women are biologically different from men and are the ones who bear children.

This leaflet will answer some of the most frequently asked questions about the ERA, and we hope will enable you to take an informed judgement as to whether the "women's liberationists" speak for you.

Women libbers successfully agitated until the protective clause, known as the Wiggins Amendment, was deleted from the ERA even though it was strongly recommended as a part of the ERA by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. The Wiggins Amendment Stated:

"THIS ARTICLE SHALL NOT IMPAIR THE VALIDITY OF ANY LAW OF THE UNITED STATES WHICH EXEMPTS A PERSON FROM COMPULSORY MILITARY SERVICE OR ANY OTHER LAW OF THE UNITED STATES OR ANY STATE WHICH RESONABLY PROMOTES THE HEALTH AND SAFETY OF THE PEOPLE."

What ERA Will NOT Do:

ERA will NOT give women EQUAL PAY for EQUAL WORK, better paying jobs, promotions or better working conditios. These are already covered under the:

Equal Pay Act of 1963.

Title VII, Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972.

Senator Sam Ervin Says: "Since the ERA is not self-enforicing, this defect in enforcement (of existing laws and regulations), will survive the passage of the amendment and women will still have to bring suits to enforce their rights in the employment sphere with no more remedies than they presently enjoy."

ERA will NOT help women in the field of CREDIT. This has already been mandated by the Equal Credit Opporunity Act of 1974.

ERA will NOT give women better EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES. This has already been mandated by the Education Amendments of 1972.

ERA will NOT help women in Athletics, but will require sex integrated co-ed athletic programs such as the recent order by the Pennsylvania courts that all high schools must permit girls and boys to compete and practice together in all sports, including football and wrestling.

IN OTHER WORDS, ERA will NOT do anything for women that is not already possible through the proper enforcment of existing laws.

THE HAZARDS OF ERA:

ERA will invalidate all state laws which require a husband to support his wife and family (Fla. Statute 856.04). ERA will impose on wives the equal legal obligation for financial support fo the family, thereby increasing the need for women to seek employment outside the home.

ERA will require women to register for the draft and be subject to combat duty on the same basis as men. While there is not draft at the moment it could be restored at any time. Congress has always had the power to draft women, yet they have always chosen to specifically expemt women from the draft. Under ERA Congress will lose this power to exempt women solely on the basis of sex.

ERA will eliminate the right to privacy. There is no clearly defined constitutional rights to privacy. However, laws and customs presently isnure the right to privacy. Legal authorities are virtually unanimous in saying that such laws and practices would be disolved under the sex neutral ERA. Thus, there will be no sexually segregated accomodcations in prisons, mental hospitals, veterans facilities, the armed forces and academies, public schools, public restrooms and all other public facilities.

ERA will legalize homosexual "marriages" and permit such "couples" to adopt children. Professor James White of the Michigan Law School testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee: "Conceivably a court would find a state had to authorize mariage and recognize marital legal rights between members of the same sex."

In the state of Colorado (whcih has adopted a state ERA), the Miami News of Mar. 27, 1975 reported: "Two homosexuals have been grated a marriage license by the Boulder County Clerk's office. Clerk Clela Rorex said she beleives it was the first time a marriage license had been issued to a couple of the same sex in Colorado."

ERA will elminate all single sex schools, colleges, sororities and fraternities.

ERA will invalidate labor laws which protect women from heavy lifting and compulsory overtime.

ERA could take away the tax exempt status of churches, seminiaries, and synagogues which have sexually discriminatory policies.

ERA is a big power grab by the federal government. It will transfer jurisdiction over marriage, property rights, divorce, alimony, child custody, abortion and inheritance rights out fo the hands of the individual states and into the hands of the federal bureaucrats and the federal courts.

ERA will eliminate the present right of a wife to draw Social Security benefits based on her husband's earnings.

ERA will elimiate present lower life insurance and automobile insurance rates for women.

With so much to lose and NOTHING to gain, why take a chance?

ERA is a FRAUD. It pretends to improve the status of women but actually is a big TAKEAWAY of the rights of women now possess.

QUOTES ON ERA

"A differentiation on account of sex is totally precluded regardless of whether a legislature or administrative agency may consider such classification to be reasonable, to be beneficial rather than invidious, or to be justifed by compelling reasons."

Professor Thomas Emerson (Yale Law Institute)

"I would predict that the Equal Rights Amendment and many of the other goals of its proponents will bring social disruption, unhappiness and increasing rates of divorce and desertion. Weaking of family ties may also lead to increased rates of alcoholism, suicide and, possibly, sexual deviation."

Dr. Jonathan H. Pincus (Prof. of Neurology, Yale Medical School)

"Use of the law in an attempt to conjure away all the differences which do exist between the sexes is both an insult to the law itself and a complete disregard of fact."

Professor Bernard K. Schwartz (New York Univiersity Law School)

"Not only would women, including mothers, be subject to the draft, but the military would be compelled to the place them in combat units alongside of men."

U.S. House Judiciary Committee Report, No. 92-359

"I call the Equal Rights Amendment the liftin' and totin' bill. More than half of the black women with jobs work in service occupations; if the Amendment becomes law, we will be the ones liftin' and totin'."

Jean Noble (National Council of Negro Women)

"I do not wish to see - and to vote for - a constitutional amendment which would require all women to be equally obligated with their husbands to support the family ...."

Congresswoman Leonor Sullivan (D.- Missouri)

Join The Fight To Stop Era

WRITE your State Senators and Representatives TODAY and urge them to VOTE NO on ERA. For further information or to volunteer your help, contact:

Florida Federation

Women For Responsible Legislation

P.O. Box 570033 Miami, Florida 33157

(305)-235-3141