Dear John,
Abortion seekers who live in the Southeastern U.S. have lost the last state where abortion was available up to 15 weeks. In a Monday ruling, the Florida Supreme Court allowed a six-week abortion ban to take effect May 1. Activists have called the ban “catastrophic,” and providers in North Carolina—the nearest state where abortion is legal up to 12 weeks—are bracing for an influx of patients that they aren’t sure they can handle.
On the same day, the Florida Supreme Court also cleared the way for a proposed constitutional amendment which would guarantee the right to abortion “before viability” to go before Florida voters in November. The state now joins a number of others where voters will weigh in on the right to abortion this November—including in Maryland, and potentially in Nevada, Arizona, Missouri, Arkansas and South Dakota where petitions to qualify are being circulated. And in New York, an Equal Rights Amendment that will specifically ensure reproductive rights, is before voters this fall. Amendments enshrining abortion rights like Florida’s, when put on the ballot, have seen a resounding success in other states, including Michigan, Kansas, California and Ohio.
State Equal Rights Amendments are proving to be a powerful basis to challenge state abortion restrictions. In Nevada, a district court recently ruled that the state’s Equal Rights Amendment safeguards Medicaid funding for abortions, and in Pennsylvania, the state Supreme Court found that abortion providers can challenge the state’s ban on Medicaid funding for abortions on the basis of sex discrimination.
“The Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s ruling shows that sex equality is the solid foundation for reproductive rights in the future,” wrote the ERA Project’s Ting Ting Cheng in our recent “The ERA is Essential to Democracy” series. “Now, more than ever, it is clear that abortion access (and the right to reproductive care in general) is not guaranteed without sex equality, and sex equality cannot be achieved without abortion access.”
If you want to learn more about how the federal ERA can safeguard abortion rights, I encourage you to check out the entire project, including our On the Issues podcast interview with Susan Frietsche, co-executive director of the Women’s Law Project.
A notable advocate for the ERA is being honored this week: I encourage you to read Ms. contributor Kathy Bonk’s piece on how First Lady (and Republican!) Betty Ford—who is being commemorated on a new USPS Forever stamp—played a major role in the campaigns for the ERA. “We miss her now more than ever, as the ERA has a serious chance at becoming the 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution,” said Ellie Smeal, co-founder and president of the Feminist Majority, who as president of the National Organization for Women, worked closely with Ford and actor (and Ms. contributor) Alan Alda, co-chairs of the ERA Countdown Campaign.
And finally, in big news this week, the Justice Department announced a $4.14 million settlement from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, for Title IX violations. The DOJ found that the university had for years allowed a former head coach to sexually harass male student athletes, and discriminate against female student athletes. “This settlement should send a resounding message to our nation’s colleges and universities: sexual assaults and harassment of students will not be tolerated,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
Two generations after the passage of Title IX, which broadened opportunities and funding for women’s sports from elementary to high school to college, we’re seeing just how big an impact it had in the robust and growing interest around women’s basketball. Fan favorites Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark are just two examples of the type of excellence that comes from supporting women’s sports. As we tune in to the final March Madness games, we’re watching what the feminist movement always believed was possible!
Onward,
