Bid in Arkansas to ratify Equal Rights Amendment fails
LITTLE ROCK (AP & KATV) — An effort to make Arkansas the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment has failed before a legislative committee.
The proposal to ratify the amendment failed before the majority-Republican Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee after it didn't get a second motion in favor of advancing the measure.
"We missed an opportunity," said Sen. Joyce Elliott (D-Little Rock), the resolution's sponsor. "Arkansas could be on the map today for doing something that is so long overdue, but at least looking forward if we had passed this amendment today, and it's a very disappointing reality that we didn't."
Sen. Breanne Davis (R-Russellville), the committee's only female member, echoed concerns from other Republican lawmakers about the possibility of court overreach and implications stemming from the language of the amendment. While the ERA has been presented as an amendment about women's rights, the amendment actually reads - "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex."
"I think it's a lot more than just giving women equal rights under the law. I believe that it has far reaching implications and it's something that eventually will critically damage society," said Davis.
Approved by Congress in 1972, the proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution would outlaw gender discrimination. Thirty-eight states must ratify it first, but only 37 have. Supporters in several states have been pushing for ratification, but it would also likely spark battles in the courts and Congress over a long-passed 1982 deadline and various other legal issues.
