Leveling the playing field with the ERA for Women in Sports
February 04, 2026
Since July, the U.S. government has been moving pregnant unaccompanied immigrant girls — some as young as 13, many pregnant due to rape — to a single facility in San Benito, Texas, where abortion is banned in nearly all circumstances. Former officials argue this is a deliberate strategy to block abortion access without requiring anyone to formally deny it. The facility is hours from major cities, raising serious concerns about adequate care for what are often high-risk pregnancies. Many experts have called this a human rights violation, citing international law and a 2018 court ruling that required officials to connect these minors to reproductive healthcare.
This action conflicts with the Equal Rights Amendment, which holds that everyone must be treated equally under the law regardless of their sex. By relocating these girls to a state where abortion is banned, the government is placing a burden that falls exclusively on girls — no boy detainee would ever face the same restriction. For the many girls who became pregnant through rape, being deliberately moved to a state where they cannot access care is not protection — it is cruelty, and a clear violation of the 28th Amendment.
The ERA was ratified as the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution on January 27, 2020, when Virginia became the 38th and final state needed for ratification. Yet anti-equality actors in government continue to ignore it — and the 78% of Americans who support it. Their inaction fuels ongoing attacks on our rights and keeps the weight of inequality firmly in place.
Today the fight is about recognition and enforcement. We need you to help claim the ERA as the 28th Amendment — vote, demand action from Congress, and make clear at every level of government, in our courts, our culture, and our communities, that the Equal Rights Amendment is law.
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