Capitol Police removed a pro-Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) protester from a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday after the woman interrupted a line of questioning from Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.
“We’ve been telling you for the last 20 years, no one wants that! Do you understand that? Just like I understand that this amendment is fully ratified? And yes, Congress doesn’t want that! Because Congress does not want to serve us. I understand that I need to be quiet. I understand that you do not like us to express our opinions, and that is why we still only have one constitutional right!” the woman shouted as a Capitol Police officer escorted her out of the hearing room.
Capitol Police drag out another protester at the Senate Judiciary hearing. Things starting to get testy in here: “No one wants abortion until the moment of birth.” pic.twitter.com/Aj2FavGgni
— Michael Ginsberg (@mikeginsberg98) February 28, 2023
Earlier in the hearing, police removed a protester who shouted that “women die every day because the ERA has been ignored.” (RELATED: ‘Women Die Every Day’: Protester Interrupts Senate Hearing For Full Minute Before Being Dragged Out)
Graham had attempted to open a line of questioning about the impact of the ERA on abortion access, asserting that the provision’s language would require all states to allow abortion up to the moment of birth. Other scholars have warned that the ERA would eliminate single-sex spaces, as they could be deemed discriminatory towards transgender individuals.
Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment in 1972, and the language of the amendment gave states a seven-year window to ratify it. Congress later extended the deadline by three years. Thirty-five states ratified the amendment before the deadline passed, leaving the ERA three states short of becoming part of the Constitution.
Nevada, Illinois and Virginia ratified the amendment in 2017, 2018 and 2020 respectively, leading activists to claim that the amendment now has the full force of law. However, legal scholars, most prominently the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, assert that the ratification process must restart.
“The heart of this is about the Dobbs decision and other decisions about the rights and role of women today,” committee chairman Dick Durbin of Illinois said.