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ERA Hearing Abruptly Cancelled. Likely To Be Rescheduled
Legislators Received Huge Number of Calls,
Emails-Pro-lifers Packed Hearing Room. Keep Speaking
Out.
The hearing in Carson City scheduled for Thursday March
26, 2009 for the dangerous pro-abortion Equal Rights
Amendment (ERA) bill was abruptly cancelled. It's
infuriating, especially after waiting through three bills
and over two hours, but it shows the power of pro-lifer’s
input and response to this bill and citizen lobbying.
It will likely be rescheduled.
The reason given was that the bill's sponsor,
Assemblywoman Kathy McClain, was testifying on a bill at
another hearing and couldn't be there to testify on this
bill. These things do happen, but this bill wasn't some
ordinary bill, it was a bill about adding a constitutional
amendment to the United States Constitution. The room was
so packed with pro-life and pro-family supporters that an
overflow room had to be used.
This abrupt cancellation shows the difference pro-life
citizens can make with emails, phone calls, registering
their opinion on the legislative council bureau's site,
and the impact of those who turned out. It made a huge
difference. Perhaps the other side is regrouping and
trying to marshal their forces. We'll need to go
into action again.
If you haven't registered your opinion on ERA, we ask
you to please register your opposition to AJR3-not AJR3*-
on behalf of those who drove distances, arrived early and
then had the meeting cancelled. See the info below.
Thanks to everyone who came. For those who came for the
first time, you now know the power of your presence. To
those who have never called or emailed a legislator, you
do too.
Thanks to everyone who turned out and called, left their
opinion, or sent an email. Let's keep pouring our opinion
in. This is not the end. We'll let you know when the next
hearing is. Thanks to all of you. Information on what
to do is below in our short action request.
ERA Abortion Bill In
NV Legislature Has Nationwide Impact
AJR 3, a bill with wide ranging abortion implications, has
been introduced into the Nevada Assembly. There’s a
hearing Thursday, March 26, 2009 at 3:45PM. AJR3 is bill
to ratify the long defeated so called “Equal Rights
Amendment” (ERA) to the United States Constitution.
Americans support equal rights, but not in the guise of
abortion. Although the courts have long declared ERA
dead, if ERA is ever ratified to the US Constitution, it
will strike down abortion laws in all 50 states as well as
federal abortion protections including taxpayer funding
bans, partial birth abortion bans, conscience and parental
protections. We have to defeat ERA in Nevada.
An explanation of how ERA would impact nationwide abortion
laws and the scenario to pass this long dead legislation
is below the contact information. Please send an email or
call the following legislators. Please kindly tell them
that you oppose the equal rights amendment and ask them to
vote no on AJR 3, the Nevada ERA. Please consider coming
to the hearing. You do not need to testify. A strong
showing with emails and calls will go a long way to
stopping this legislation.
Short Action Request:
1. Please send an email and/or call the legislators
below on the committee hearing the bill. Please kindly
tell them that you oppose the equal rights amendment and
ask them to vote no on AJR 3, the bill to have Nevada
ratify ERA.
2. You can also
click here to register your opinion on AJR3. In
the Select Bill Section, type in AJR3 (not AJR3*). Next to the "Share
Your Opinion Box", select "Against." If possible, leave a
comment.
3. Please consider coming to the hearing at Room
3142 Legislative Building in Carson City. The meeting is
at 3:45, but please come early. You do not need to
testify. Sign in and say you oppose the bill. A strong
showing with emails and calls will go a long way to
stopping this legislation.
Email And/Or Call Individual Committee Members:
Committee Chair
Ellen Koivisto
775-684-8597
Committee Co-chair
Harry Mortenson
775-684-8803
Heidi Gansert
684-8837
Ruben Kihuen
684-8553
Debbie Smith
684-8841
Ty Cobb
684-8848
Marcus Conklin
684-8505
John Hambrick
684-8827
William Horne
684-8847
Harvey Munford
684-8545
James Ohrenschall
684-8819
James Settelmeyer
684-8843
Email all committee members at once. You can also
email all these Assembly Committee members all at once by
copying and pasting these addresses into the blind copy
section of your email.
ekoivisto@asm.state.nv.us,hmortenson@asm.state.nv.us,
hgansert@asm.state.nv.us, rkihuen@asm.state.nv.us, dsmith@asm.state.nv.us,
tcobb@asm.state.nv.us, mconklin@asm.state.nv.us, jhambrick@asm.state.nv.us,
whorne@asm.state.nv.us, hmunford@asm.state.nv.us,
johrenschall@asm.state.nv.us, jsettelmeyer@asm.state.nv.us
What the bill says.
The text of AJR 3 proposes "Ratifying a proposed amendment
to the Constitution of the United States providing that
equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or
abridged by the United States or by any state on account
of sex."
Why pro-lifers oppose ERA and AJR 3.
Pro-lifers oppose this bill because it would be used by
abortion advocates to wipe out abortion laws and force
states to pay for abortion even though the proposed
amendment doesn't contain the word “abortion.” Abortion
advocates have used similar laws in New Mexico and
Connecticut to force states to pay for abortions.
How are state ERA laws used to strike down
abortion laws? Refusals to participate in abortion or pay for it or to create
protections or barriers are viewed as sex discrimination.
National Right to Life’s Douglas Johnson explains the
logic, "Abortion is a medical procedure sought only by
women; therefore, a law that treats abortion differently
from other medical procedures is a form of sex
discrimination." Limits on abortion are seen as sex
discrimination. If states pay for treating an enlarged
prostate, they must pay for an abortion or they are guilty
of discrimination. Abortion advocates also advocate using
ERA to strike down parental notification laws, conscience
provisions and more.
ERA was defeated 30 years ago. Why this NV bill? How
could it be used to amend the Constitution with ERA?
Between 1972 and 1983 there was an effort to amend the
United States Constitution with ERA. 38 states are
required to ratify a proposed amendment for it to become
an amendment to the United States Constitution. Only 35
states ratified it and five states rescinded their
ratification. The seven year time frame written into the
original legislation expired.
The Three State Strategy And The 27th
Amendment. But that's not stopping abortion advocates
because the 27th amendment, ratified in the
early 90s, was ratified after 200 years. Supporters argue
that if the 27th amendment was ratified after 200 years in
the early 1990's, ERA can likewise be ratified many years
later if they can get three more states like Nevada to
ratify ERA. This is called the 3 State Strategy. But the
27th amendment had no time limit, ERA had a seven year
limit, and supporters ignore ERA’s seven year limit and
court decisions declaring ERA dead. This Three State
scheme would also require voiding the actions of the five
states that revoked their earlier ratification of ERA and
making their prior ratification stand.
This reeks of duplicity. ERA and abortion advocates can’t
have it both ways. If states revoking their earlier
ratification can be forced to comply with their earlier
ratifications and support of ERA, then states like Nevada
which rejected ratification can likewise be forced to
abide by their earlier rejection.
Why We Still Need to Defeat ERA Again In Nevada.
The scenario above is convoluted logic and reasoning,
but the outrageous Roe v. Wade decision which has
no basis in law, history or logic, shows that we cannot
leave anything to the courts. We have to beat it here in
Nevada to prevent an out of control congress from
accepting ERA and a rogue court from approving it.
Pro-life groups have repeatedly said they would not oppose
ERA if it contained abortion neutral language to ensure
ERA does not "grant, secure or deny any right relating to
abortion or the funding thereof." Refusal to add this and
use of state ERAs to defeat abortion laws, undermines
protests that ERA does not involve abortion. Americans
support equal rights, but not in the guise of abortion.
Pro-family groups also have their reasons for opposing ERA
too. Some of them are shocking. You can read about them at
Eagle Forum's ERA page.
Read the
Nevada LIFE
Press Release: ERA Amendment Will
Strike Abortion Laws Nationwide. March 26, 2009 |
