To the editor:

This June will mark two years since the patriarchal attack on women grew when the Supreme Court set the stage for decimation of our reproductive rights with the Dobbs decision.

What a sad fact to acknowledge as we observe March as Women’s History Month. Many politicians have strongly stated that we need to codify Roe vs. Wade, the long-standing court decision that legalized reproductive choices since 1973. What they don’t realize is their plan won’t work without the Equal Rights Amendment: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”

Those words provide the basis to stop discrimination and finally bring constitutional equality to women. You did know that women are not even included in the US Constitution, didn’t you? When that document was written, women were considered the property of men.

I know there are some people who would like to return to those days, but thankfully many more don’t ascribe to such a harmful belief. The ERA was ratified and affirmed in 2020, but President Trump blocked its publication into the Constitution, and President Biden has not followed through on his plan to do that. Instead, we hear from legislators that they will codify our right to reproductive health care. Trouble is, a MAGA-led Congress will undoubtedly challenge that and take their opposition all the way to the highest court, where the MAGA and conservative Catholic-based Supreme Court will take one look, point to their Dobbs decision and toss out any codifying legislation. Then politicians can say “at least we tried,” then ask you for money and your vote so they can keep trying.

But we know, and now you will know, there’s a simpler and more effective way to regain our reproductive rights and finally achieve true equality. All Biden needs to do is direct the Constitutional archivist to publish the ERA as the 28th Amendment. The ERA will then serve as the basis for laws that can protect women’s rights and invalidate those that discriminate against women. Employers would no longer be able to pay you less than a man for doing the same job. (In 2022, American women typically earned 82 cents for every dollar earned by men.) Insurance companies would no longer be able to charge women higher premiums just because women can give birth.

And your freedom to determine your reproductive health care, your right to bodily autonomy, can truly be the law of the land.

If you believe in civil rights for all, constitutional rights should be for all, as well. The best way to observe Women’s History Month is to notify our president and vice president that women are tired of being second-class citizens.

You can text Biden every day at (302) 404-0880. The text number for Vice President Kamala Harris is (310) 861-2977. Tell both the ERA is ratified and ready. Patriarchy is malarkey. Women have waited long enough.

Mr. President, what are you waiting for?

Marjie DeFede

Rayland