Today marks the two-year anniversary of the Supreme Court publishing its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization–the decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and eliminated the constitutional right to abortion. Over the past two years, as abortion criminalization bills and restrictions have swept the nation, millions of Americans have lost their most basic and fundamental reproductive freedoms. Over 25 million people have been impacted by the Supreme Court’s extremist conservative anti-abortion majority. In the wake of Dobbs, 28 states have restricted or banned abortions–14 of those states have total abortion bans.  Moreover, over 170,000 people were forced to travel across state borders last year to access abortion care. 

We are living through an abortion crisis, and young people are bearing the brunt. Young people know that abortion saves lives, and we know that the ability to plan if and when to start families, pursue education, participate in democracy, and build our futures hinges on our ability to make decisions about our bodies, our health, and our lives. That’s why young Americans, across movements and identities, are joining together to demand bold action from our President to defend and expand abortion access for all people, regardless of zip code, income, race, ability, queerness, or any facet of their identity. We demand you, President Biden, to instruct the National Archivist to immediately certify and publish the Equal Rights Amendment to restore the constitutional right to abortion.

We write to you following yet another Supreme Court term in which challenges to extremist state-level abortion restrictions have put everyone’s abortion rights in limbo. We are relieved Mifepristone is safe–for now. We anxiously await the Court’s decision regarding EMTALA’s power to ensure life-saving, emergency abortion care is provided to all people, regardless of a state’s abortion laws. We are still reeling from recent decisions out of Arizona, Texas, and Florida that have implemented near-total abortion bans and robbed pregnant people of their access to emergency abortion care. Young people demand executive action to provide a strong, comprehensive legal tool to defend against these attacks on our abortion access. 

The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is the solution to restore the constitutional right to abortion for all. Abortion restrictions are sex discrimination. The ERA would enshrine an explicit guarantee of sex equality in the Constitution and provide a strong defense against these mounting abortion restrictions. We know Roe has never been enough. State laws and federal bills to legalize abortion will always be subject to attacks by extremist right-wing politicians committed to banning abortion. We need a new, winning legal framework to defend and expand reproductive freedom. The right to abortion must be grounded on the basis of sex equality. President Biden, you have an exciting opportunity to enshrine sex equality in the U.S. Constitution and restore the right to abortion for all. We don’t have to speculate about the ERA’s ability to defend abortion–it already has. At the state level, the ERA has been instrumental in safeguarding reproductive rights across the nation. State-level ERAs in Pennsylvania and Nevada have defeated restrictions on Medicaid coverage for abortion. In Iowa and Utah, state-level ERAs have blocked abortion bans. It’s more than clear: the ERA works to protect abortion, regardless of who holds the gavel, and we need it in the Constitution NOW.

President Biden, you have the executive authority to instruct the National Archivist, Colleen Shogan, to certify the ratifications of Nevada, Illinois, and Virginia and publish the Equal Rights Amendment into the United States Constitution. Article V of the Constitution lays out only two requirements for the amendment process: approval by a supermajority of Congress and ratification by ¾ of the states. The ERA achieved both of these goals respectively in 1972 and 2020 when Virginia became the 38th and final state needed for ratification. Over 120 Members of Congress have called on you to publish the Equal Rights Amendment through their co-sponsorships of Congresswoman Bush’s H.J. Res 82 and Senator Gillibrand’s S.J. Res 39. Further, leading constitutional scholars, such as Laurence Tribe and Jamie Raskin, agree that the ERA is the 28th Amendment. Your predecessor instructed his DOJ to block the publication of the ERA through the National Archivist—you have the authority and duty to reverse course and finalize the ERA, as is your constitutional mandate. The ball is in your court. 

Arbitrary deadlines and procedural hurdles have been weaponized against young people to block our equality and continue to chip away at our rights. The absent protections and nationwide assaults on abortion by radical state legislatures and extremist judges legislating away our rights from the bench are too dire to delay action. These same enemies succeeded in throwing away Roe and will continue to devastate millions of young Americans as we watch your inaction play to our detriment. Young voters want the ERA in the constitution now and you have the power to do so, President Biden. Young people will remember your inaction on abortion when we go to the ballot box. Young people in states like Florida, Arizona, and New York will vote to enshrine the right to abortion in their Constitution. They will remember who put them in that position. Young people’s organizing to enshrine abortion in their states is heroic. But their efforts and current suffering are unnecessary and unjust when their President could intervene. Further, many states do not have the same opportunity to protect abortion in their state constitutions. Fulfilling your self-proclaimed legacy as a “reproductive rights champion” demands today’s publication of the ERA. Young people refuse to be driven to the ballot box by fear. We do not want to settle for the lesser of two evils. We demand a true gender justice champion that will do more than just protect us from the rollbacks of our rights, they will join us on the front lines and proactively pursue gender justice. 

Further, young Americans are committed to the global struggle for justice. We call on you, President Biden, to defend reproductive freedom for all, in the United States and beyond. We call on our country to end our complicity in the ongoing genocide in Palestine and all colonial and imperialist violence abroad, from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Sudan, to Haiti, and beyond. Our feminism has no borders, and we recognize the unique influence of the U.S. in international affairs. The U.S. is part of the 15% of U.N. member states that lack an explicit guarantee of sex equality in their Constitution. Our Constitution reflects the values we hold as a nation, and how we intervene in and perpetuate, gender injustice abroad. We demand the immediate publication of the Equal Rights Amendment and a demonstrated commitment to our nation’s new value of gender equality by ending our role in all colonial and imperialist violence.

Together, as a coalition of Gen-Z organizations representing millions of young Americans–many of whom will vote this November–we collectively demand the immediate certification and publication of the Equal Rights Amendment to defend and expand abortion access. All young Americans and the movements we care about have a stake in the fight for abortion access. From climate justice to gun violence prevention, to immigrant justice, and beyond, we recognize that a just future necessitates individuals having autonomy over their bodies, lives, and futures, and the resources to realize their choices. In our intersectional, cross-movement fight for abortion justice, we recognize the ERA as the long-overdue solution at our fingertips. 

President Biden, it’s time for the ERA NOW.

Signed,