EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT WOULD PREVENT ABORTION RESTRICTIONS  
Efforts to ratify an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution failed after a 10-year, state-by-state campaign of opposition led by Phyllis Schlafly, president of Eagle Forum, and her articulate and well-informed supporters. The odds against beating the ERA were overwhelming at the time, with most state and federal officials in favor of it. But the truth about how the Amendment would affect family policy in the states, told over and over again in testimony before state legislatures, prevailed.

If ratified, the ERA would prevent states from prohibiting taxpayer funding of abortions or restricting the practice of abortion in any way. It would prevent states from requiring that marriage licenses be issued only to one man and one woman. 18-year-old girls would have to register for Selective Service to be eligible for the draft. The ERA would sex-neutralize the family codes in every state so that they no longer would refer to man/woman, husband/wife, male/female, but instead to “persons.” For instance, a marriage license today in every state but Massachusetts must be issued to a man and a woman. Under the ERA a license would be issued to two “persons.”

Now, the ERA is back. It has been re-introduced in Congress and once again, it must be defeated. Phyllis Schlafly has reminded us of a 1977 book, “Sex Bias in the U.S. Code,” authored by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (who last week wrote the dissenting opinion in the Supreme Court decision in Gonzalez vs. Carhart) in which she asserted that the ERA could result in the legalization of prostitution, a mandatory military draft for women, co-ed federal prisons and the disbandment of single-sex schools and organizations such as the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.

Eagle Forum has published a new flier about the ERA which is a very quick and useful way of presenting the facts to Members of Congress, family members and friends. To order copies, call Eagle Forum at 618/462-5415.

TEXAS LEGISLATURE SAYS NO TO HPV VACCINE MANDATE  
The Texas House and Senate both approved legislation, by overwhelming majorities, that would overturn Governor Rick Perry’s mandate that sixth-grade girls be vaccinated with Gardasil prior to admittance to school next fall. Gardasil is promoted as protection against human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted disease that can cause cervical cancer. Once the House and Senate versions are reconciled, the final bill will go to Governor Perry’s desk for his signature. He can allow it to become law without his signature, or, if he decides to abandon any claim to being a conservative, he can veto it. If he vetoes the bill, House and Senate leaders are confident that they have more than enough votes to override.

Texas parents rose up in anger when the Governor overstepped his authority and usurped the right of parents to make medical decisions for their minor children, especially in the case of HPV which is not communicable through water, food or air, but is only spread through sexual activity.

Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council, had this to say in his April 25th edition of Washington Update: “Sponsors of the legislation warned that Perry’s order would be the first time ‘the state had ordered a vaccine that protects against a disease not considered communicable . . .’” “All told, Perry’s actions were not worth the potential risk posed to the state’s 165,000 girls entering the sixth grade next year. More states should now follow the Texas Legislature’s lead.”