Nevada and Illinois were the next-most recent states to ratify the ERA - Nevada in 2017 and Illinois in 2018. But the ERA’s future is uncertain, in part because of a 1982 deadline for ratification that Congress enacted decades ago. The only option for supporters now is to begin the ratification process all over again in Congress, the department said. Some ERA supporters argue that because the deadline was included in a preamble of the amendment, it is not legally binding. They also worry it could be used by abortion-rights supporters to quash abortion restrictions on the grounds they discriminate against women.

Source: thestar January 29, 2020 20:37 UTC