ADF: Federal Equal Rights amendment is legally suspect, threatens equal opportunities for women

The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Vice President of U.S. Legal Division Kristen Waggoner regarding Alabama, South Dakota, and Louisiana’s lawsuit against the archivist of the United States, seeking to ensure that the Equal Rights Amendment cannot be ratified because Congress’s deadline has long since expired:

“Women deserve to be treated with equality and fairness under the law. But the ERA threatens equal opportunities for women, putting in jeopardy the many gains women have made in employment, education, and sports. States have numerous reasons to challenge a bad idea that petered out 40 years ago, and we’re grateful that attorneys general are unifying to protect the rule of law and the progress women have made over the decades.

 

“Even though it pretends to protect women, a federal ERA could be used to allow boys to compete in girls’ sports, unfairly taking away opportunities and denying girls a fair playing field in athletics. It could also threaten women’s homeless shelters that seek to provide a safe place for survivors of domestic abuse and sex trafficking. Instead, ERA proponents are actively striving to redefine ‘sex’ as a subjective belief that has nothing to do with the biological reality of being male or female. Additionally, the ERA could also require Americans to pay for abortions with their hard-earned tax dollars, including abortions up to the moment of birth—a move that most Americans oppose. Women knew the ERA was a bad idea in the 1970s, and it’s an even worse idea today.”

ADF represents three female track athletes challenging the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference’s policy that allows biological males who claim a female identity to compete in girls’ athletic events. Ever since adopting the policy, boys have deprived the three female athletes of honors and opportunities to compete at elite levels. ADF filed a Title IX complaint with the Department of Education, and in August DOE agreed to investigate the allegations of illegal discrimination.