Today Congressman Collin Peterson (MN-07) voted to revive a 1972 measure that, if ratified, would be used by abortion advocacy groups to try to eliminate laws protecting unborn children. "Congressman Peterson's vote today is a vote for expanding abortion," says MCCL President Leo LaLonde. "It's a vote to empower abortion advocates with a new legal tool that could be used to impose taxpayer funding of abortion nationwide." Today's vote was on legislation, H.J. Res. 79, to remove the long-passed deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), allowing it to move forward. State-level amendments similar to the ERA have been used in the past to challenge and eliminate laws that protect unborn children or limit taxpayer funding of abortion. ERA advocates, however, have opposed attempts to alter the amendment to render it abortion-neutral. As the Associated Press reported last month, "Abortion-rights supporters are eager to nullify the [ERA] deadline and get the amendment ratified so it could be used to overturn state laws restricting abortion." "The language of the Equal Rights Amendment has a history of being used to discriminate against vulnerable human beings and deny them equal protection under the law," says LaLonde. "It's troubling to see Congressman Peterson getting behind this pro-abortion effort." Pro-life Congressmen Jim Hagedorn (MN-01), Tom Emmer (MN-06), and Pete Stauber (MN-08) all voted against today's measure.
- MCCL