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STOP ERA IN ILLINOIS!



Rev. Robert Vanden Bosch Executive Director


STOP ERA IN ILLINOIS!

The following is information from STOP ERA Illinois. WE NEED YOUR HELP IN STOPPING ERA IN ILLINOIS.

The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was voted out of the House Jud 1- Civil Law Committee today and could come before the full Illinois House for a vote very soon.  We originally had enough votes committed to block its passage out of committee, but we didn't anticipate that the Democrats would use a parliamentary procedure to substitute two liberal representatives in place of our two committed Democrat votes.  As a result, we lost two supporters, and we lost the vote by 8-6.  Greg Harris (D) was substituted for John Bradley (D) who couldn't make it in due to severe weather in his area, and Mary Flowers (D) was substituted in place of Careen Gordon

(D).  The result is frustrating, but also illustrative of the ERA supporters' dishonest tactics that they use each time to push this harmful legislation upon the rest of us.  With that said, we need to immediately go to work to block passage of the ERA in both the Illinois House and the Illinois Senate.  The task is doable, and we are not alone in our efforts.  Please help by taking action on the following items:

 
1.  Call your Illinois Representative and Senator and ask them to commit as to how they will vote on the ERA.  Once you receive a commitment from them, please let me know how they plan to vote.  If they will not commit, please encourage them to vote no on the ERA (Legislative number is:  HJRCA0002).  If you are unsure who your legislators are, you can call the Capitol Switchboard at 217-782-2000 for assistance or use the following website:  http://www.elections.il.gov/DistrictLocator/AddressSearch.aspx (type in your 9 digit zip code at this site to access your legislators’ information).
 

2. Inform others of the problems with the ERA so that they fully understand the negative realities of this deceptive legislation and commit them to contact their legislators as well. Many people simply do not understand the harmful ramifications of the ERA, and wrongly believe it will benefit women. The more people we educate, the more public support we will have to stop the ERA. Please pass this on to as many people as you can to educate and gain their help (I've included updated talking points below to help). Consider writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper to publicize the problems with the ERA as well.
 
3.  Organize a group of constituents to visit your representative and your senator to educate them on the problems with the ERA.  Many legislators believe they are doing a favor to women by voting for the ERA.  They need the clear facts on how it will actually harm women, their families, and our society.  We have changed a number of votes already through these meetings.  They typically take 30-45 minutes, and are effective with 3-5 constituents.  The talking points below will help with such a meeting, but feel free to contact me if you would like more information or pointers.  These meetings will need to take place in the next two weeks if possible, and can be scheduled through the legislator's district office.
 
4.  If your situation allows, please consider donating money to any of the conservative groups in Illinois.  Groups such as Eagle Forum, Illinois Family Institute, Concerned Women of America, Concerned Christian Americans, Illinois Citizens for Life, Illinois Federation for Right to Life, and Illinois Right to Life are all working to block the passage of ERA, and they will need donations to help fund the public campaign efforts against ERA (This list is not all inclusive.  If you feel I've left out a group, please let me know).  Our group, Illinois Stop-ERA, does not solicit or accept donations.  We have been and will continue to be the coordinating and action group that has focused on the ERA with the great help of all the other conservative groups in Illinois.  Many of you are members of those groups and have made incredible contributions of time and talent to push this work forward.
 
5.  Get connected.  If you received this email through someone else, and would like to get connected with Illinois Stop-ERA, please contact me (Elise Bouc).  We need everyone to volunteer their help and being connected via first generation email contact helps.
 

6.  Continue to pray...   

Thank you for all your help and prayers.  I know we can overcome this. 
 
Kindest regards -      (Talking points listed below as well as attached)
Elise Bouc
847-465-8903
 

There is currently an attempt to pass the original federal Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in Illinois in an effort to have three more states ratify the amendment. The supporters of the ERA have a complex legal argument in which they claim that the time deadline of 1982 can be extended. If three more states ratify the ERA, it could become a binding national constitutional amendment. The Illinois House passed it in 2003, but it was blocked in the Illinois Senate.  Once again it is in the Illinois House as HJRCA0002 and will come up for a House vote shortly. The Equal Rights Amendment will not help women; instead it will harm women, their families, and our society:
 
·   The ERA is not about women’s rights. It’s about creating a genderless society that removes “sex” as a legal characteristic. The major problem with the ERA is its wording. It simply states “Equality of rights under law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex.” In essence, women are not being guaranteed equal rights; rather gender is being removed as a legal characteristic on which to base distinctions. This will harm women, their children and society.
 
·   The ERA will wipe away all current laws and doctrines that protect women. (i.e. laws that govern alimony, child support, a woman’s ability to claim support from her husband, and exemption from the military draft registration). In Maryland, the court held that under the state ERA, a husband could no longer be required to support his wife (Coleman v. Maryland, 37 Md. App. 322, 377 A.2d [1977]). Under Pennsylvania’s state ERA, a father was exempted from providing primary support for his minor children (Conway v. Dana, 456 Pa. 536, 318 A.2d 324 [1974]), and a husband’s legal responsibility for his wife’s hospital and medical bills was nullified (Albert Einstein Medical Center v. Nathans, 5 D&C 3d 619 [1978]).  In the 1970’s, the feminists tried to take away social security benefits for stay-at-home mothers because they claimed it violated the “equality principle by encouraging women to be dependent.” Congress wisely chose to retain the spouse benefit, but a national ERA would abolish this benefit.
 
·   In the 18 states that have passed state Equal Rights Amendments, we have seen further evidence that women are harmed by the ERA. In Pennsylvania, sex-based automobile insurance rates were disapproved by the state insurance commissioner due to a claim of sex discrimination. The state legislature attempted to remedy the situation by passing a law to allow for sex-based insurance rates, but the law was overturned by the state supreme court due to the state’s ERA. Now women will have to pay the same rates as men even if they statistically have better driving records (Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co. v. Insurance Commissioner, 482 A.2d 542 [Pa. 1984] and 543-44). In Massachusetts, the state ERA was used to overturn the practice of using stricter penal discipline with male inmates who are much more violent in jail than female inmates. As a result, female inmates will have to be subjected to equally harsh discipline (DuPont v. Wyzanski, 2004 Mass. Super. Ct. 2004).  These examples show that even when it logically makes sense to allow for a gender distinction, an ERA will not allow for that distinction.
 
·   The ERA will not give women any more rights than they currently have. Women already have claim to equal rights through the 14th Amendment (Section 1) as well as many other laws. In an analysis of the impact of the ERA written in the 1970’s, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg was unable to find any changes required in employment laws.
 
·   The ERA will legalize all gay rights including same-sex marriages under the justification that the government cannot discriminate based on sex. The Hawaii supreme court ruled that the denial of marriage licenses to same-sex couples is sex discrimination and unconstitutional under Hawaii’s state ERA (Baehr v. Lewin, 852 P.2d 44, 1993). The people of Hawaii had to pass a state constitutional amendment to overturn this decision. Recently Maryland’s marriage law was overturned due to their state ERA. The case is currently under appeal.
 
·   The ERA will further entrench abortion in our society and legally mandate taxpayer funding for elective abortions. The New Mexico Supreme Court recently ruled under their state ERA that since only women undergo abortions, the denial of taxpayer funding is “sex discrimination” (N.M. Right to Choose/NARAL v. Johnson, 975 P.2d 841, 1998).
 
·   Finally, the ERA will transfer large amounts of power from the state government to the federal government since it empowers Congress to enforce it. In addition, the ERA would empower the federal courts to determine the meaning of “equality of rights” and “sex.” In essence we would be handing the state’s legislative power to Congress and the unelected judges of our federal courts.
 
Clearly the ERA will harm women, families, society, and the structure of our government. Please call your state senator and representative and ask them to vote against the ERA. Contact information for legislators can be found at http://www.elections.il.gov/DistrictLocator/AddressSearch.aspx (type in your 9 digit zip code at this site to access your legislators’ information). Contact Elise Bouc of Illinois Stop-ERA at 847-465-8903 (ebouc@juno.com) for more information, or if you would like to volunteer your help. Please pass this on to others so that they too can be informed.