In North Carolina, Asheville NOW calls for passage of the ERA

Mountain XPress
Asheville, NC
Asheville NOW calls for equal rights
July 28, 2014
by Erik Peake

The message delivered by the Asheville chapter of the National Organization for Women came through loud and clear Saturday night: Women want equal rights, and they want them NOW...

...McLendon also talked about how, in 2013, the North Carolina legislature set back the clock on women’s rights by attaching abortion-rights restrictions to a motorcycle-safety-bill — a controversial tactic that was criticized by pro-choice advocates and called “anti-woman” by N.C. Rep. Jean Farmer-Butterfield...

...Underlying the messages of all of the evening’s speakers was a plea for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment — a measure (originally supported by the Republican Party) that passed both houses of Congress in 1972 but wasn’t ratified by enough states to make it part of the Constitution. The ERA would codify women’s rights, and, according to McLendon, North Carolina could “tip the balance to get it through.”

She said, “This is something we’re not supposed to be able to do, but which can be done, should be done and will be done.”....

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