ERA Clears the Air on Wrong Interpretation of the !4trh Amendment vis a vis Equal Rights

Regretfully, we had to send a letter to National NOW as they disagreed with Supreme Court Justice Scalia. It is extremely rare that we agree with him, but when he said the 14th Amendment leaves women unprotected constitutionally, we must agree. Though it is a common mistake, here's the letter we sent to National NOW. Not just to point fingers at them, but to ask them immediately to make public correction as it is central to the 7 ERA-active states, trying to ratify ERA. This is something ALL ERA devotees must know by heart to counter inaccurate legislative arguments against ERA. Letter to our very special champions of ERA, National NOW continues as follows. Please commment at the end. Thank you.


Happy New Year!

Dear Terry O'Neil and all Sisters for ERA,

One of the most widely disseminated and ERA-dissembling errors is that:

THE 14TH AMENDMENT DOES PROTECT AMERICAN WOMEN/FEMALES. This is untrue and inaccurate. Please correct this major error that undermines one of our top arguments of the states trying desperately to ratify theirs! The national Equal Rights Alliance, based in Florida, recognizes that it is an easy mistake to make. We spend long hours before state legislatures trying to disabuse them of this incorrect perception that serves their denial purposes so well: "You women don't NEED another amendment. You already HAVE the 14th Amendment", they say, wrongly.

Written in 1868, it DOES NOT protect women and girls; it protects only men and boys, as intended. Constitutional lawyers agree that if you read down to the 2nd section, though not simply stated, it is clear that the 14th Amendment is a MEN-ONLY AMENDMENT. "...all Persons" is defined in the 2nd section as ALL MEN. Please read Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg's statements on this.

The second section of the 14th Amendment deliberately leaves out women when it comes to equality as at the time women were considered "chattel" --possessions of men--along with slaves and children. It has been applied in one or more extreme sex discrimination cases, but is weak and leaves us vulnerable. FEMALES DESERVE THEIR OWN CONTRACT WITH OUR NATION. It is our birthright.

This is the exact reason American females REQUIRE A NEW AMENDMENT, the ERA, so that we get Honorable Mention alongside men in the U.S. Constitution, our proposed codified contract with our nation!

We strongly urge that National NOW retract this announcement publicly and change it correctly, and send that around the nation to all NOW chapters and to all legislators in states where the Equal Rights Amendment is being discussed: Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Virginia (tba 2011), and Nevada! Remember, we just need 3 of them to ratify so that ERA passes into the US Constitution; state ERAs lack backbone. All the active states are based on the 3-state strategy that has legal substantiation and has , instead, power to bring about passage WITHIN OUR LIFETIMES not by starting all over for 100 more years.

Sisters, if we are serious about the ERA and serious in our support for the now-SEVEN states struggling mightily every single day over long hours, and in my case withstanding death threats to lobby pro bono for the ERA, we MUST STAND TOGETHER IN SOLIDARITY AND SUPPORT, singing the same song accurately. We must correct this as we have enough to do correcting of Special Interests' lies.

Equal Rights Alliance, our Board, our 300,000 supporters, and I do appreciate all that you do for us and all Americans.

Please respond to our emailed message. Thank you.

Sandy Oestreich, Founder - President of the now-national Equal Rights Alliance, Inc., and ERA Education, Inc.
Fmr. elected official; Professor Emerita; Nurse practitioner; Co-author of internationally distributed pharmacology reference texts, etc.