Political Quotes

“Mr. President, the following statement is from Senator Birch Bayh in honor of the 40th anniversary of Congressional passage of the Equal Rights Amendment: Recent events have seen an assault on those who provide health care services to women and we have even seen questions raised anew about issues like contraception. It may have been 40 years since we passed the ERA in Congress but the reasons why many of us tried to write women's rights into the Constitution are still with us today. As the Chief Senate Sponsor and floor leader of the Equal Rights Amendment, I remember well the intensity of the battle we fought in the early 1970's. America's history has been a steady expansion of individual rights, beginning with the expansion of the franchise in our early years. From the rights of former slaves after the Civil War to the expansion of the vote for women and then for 18 year olds, we have codified in our Constitution an ongoing commitment to individual rights. It seemed fitting then, and seems fitting now, that our Constitution speak loudly and clearly that the law allow no discrimination on the basis of gender. While the principles involved in this battle remain, the country has evolved quite a bit since 1972. In 1972 there were 2 women in the U.S. Senate and 13 in the House of Representatives. Now there are 17 women Senators and 75 Congresswomen. There were no female Governors in 1972 and had been only 3 in all our history before that, there are 6 now.…”