Over 100 Young People Rally at Supreme Court to Demand ERA NOW On Dobbs’ Second Anniversary

Anticipating the Supreme Court’s decision on EMTALA, young people demand Biden immediately publish the Equal Rights Amendment as the solution to the abortion crisis.

WASHINGTON – Today, on the second anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, over 100 young people are rallying in front of the Supreme Court at 4:30 PM to demand their right to abortion be secured in the U.S. Constitution through the publication of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). They demand that Biden immediately instructs the National Archivist to certify and publish the ERA. This demonstration is part of a series of actions organized today as part of the Right to Abortion campaign by the Young Feminist Party (formerly Generation Ratify). 

The ERA has fulfilled all requirements in the Constitution for publication. President Biden alone has the authority to publish the ERA. Leading constitutional scholars, alongside 121 members of Congress, have called on Biden to make the ERA the 28th Amendment. 

The ERA would enshrine sex equality in the Constitution, providing a robust defense against escalating abortion restrictions. We don’t have to speculate about the ERA’s ability to defend abortion–it already has. State-level ERAs in Pennsylvania and Nevada have defeated restrictions on Medicaid coverage for abortion. In Iowa and Utah, state-level ERAs have blocked abortion bans. It’s more than clear: the ERA works to protect abortion, regardless of who holds the gavel, and we need it in the Constitution. 

These rallies follow yet another Supreme Court term in which abortion rights are in limbo. The Supreme Court recently released its decision on FDA v. Hippocratic Alliance for Medicine, dismissing this case due to lack of standing and not further restricting Mifepristone access–for now. We still anxiously await the Supreme Court’s decision in Idaho v. United States, that will decide the future of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) and emergency abortion care. With the memory of Dobbs still fresh on our minds, we know there is no more time left to waste on publishing the ERA. 

Sister actions to the Washington D.C. action have been coordinated in Orlando, Albany, and Phoenix.  In addition to D.C., these actions were organized in states that will vote in November to enshrine the right to abortion in their state constitutions through ballot initiatives. Young people in these states recognize that they have a unique opportunity to win back their rights at the state-level–an opportunity that will not be afforded to millions more this coming November or in the foreseeable future. Many more states, like Texas and Alabama, have especially anti-democratic governments that will not allow for state-level amendments to succeed. This is why young people are demanding President Biden publish the federal ERA to secure gender justice and abortion rights for all.