What can we do now to make South Carolina the 39th state to ratify the ERA?

• Call or send a personal note to your state representative and senator asking for their support on H. 3391 and S. 901 and S. 908, respectively.
• Contact the 24 women of the House (12 democrats and 12 republicans and ask for their support for the ERA. Thank those who have already signed on. The website www.equalmeansERA.org will provide you with the names and addresses of these 24 women as well as sample postcards and messages. You can find all this in Action Alert #3. Click on this link to take you directly to that page. 
• This website also contains a letter sent by US Senator from South Carolina Strom Thurmond in 1972 to his colleagues stating his support for Equal Rights for Women.

You can read more about the ERA on our Issues page.

What Happens When the 38th State Ratifies the ERA?

The constitution states that this amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification. That said, two issues have arisen that stand to challenge moving forward on implementation of the ERA:

To better understand these points of law,  I highly recommend reading the latest white paper authored by Roberta W. Francis, the ERA Education Consultant for the Alice Paul Institute "After 38 States Ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, What Happens Next”. It is a great resource to better understand the potential paths to ratification once Virginia (or Utah, or South Carolina) becomes the 38th state to ratify the amendment. Click on the link below to read the white paper.