Ramesh Ponnuru, Columnist

Phyllis Schlafly's Good Fight Against Equal Rights Amendment

She caused outrage in the 1970s. But history suggests she was prescient in opposing a constitutional amendment.

September 7, 2016 at 4:46 PM UTC

Ramesh Ponnuru is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is the editor of National Review and a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

Right choices.
Photographer: Warren Leffler/Icok/Underwood Archives/Getty Images

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Phyllis Schlafly, the longtime conservative activist and author who died earlier this week, famously led the fight against the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s. The amendment said that neither the federal government nor any state could abridge or deny any right on the basis of sex, and its ratification seemed like a lock. Both parties supported it, and it passed the Senate in 1972 with 84 votes.

Then came Schlafly, who organized a small army of traditionalist women to defeat it.