Last week, Senator Dick Durbin held a committee hearing in hopes of resurrecting the controversial Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). While proponents claim the amendment would eliminate discrimination against women, in reality—as with the gross misuse of Title IX legislation—it would accelerate the erasure and harm of women. 

It is unlikely that the ERA has any chance of passing into law, which Senate advocates know, making it questionable how much of this new push is sincere and how much is grandstanding. 

Disguised in language of equality, the current version of the ERA eliminates any legitimate legal distinctions between men and women. Women are already harmed by similar policies—like those that allow men to participate against women in sports and give them access to women’s facilities. If ratified, the ERA would cement and amplify these harmful policies by making them “constitutional.”  

But this much should be obvious: No law that denies that women are created different from men can protect women.