John Oliver Begs States to Ratify the Equal Rights Amendment in New Last Week Tonight Clip

In light of the 100th anniversary of Congress passing the 19th Amendment and enshrining women’s right to vote, this week’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver tackled the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment—or, rather, the lack thereof.

As explained by Oliver, the ERA, which currently sits in constitutional purgatory, lays out in simple language that rights cannot be “denied or abridged” by the U.S. government on account of sex. It has absolutely nothing to do with alimony, child custody, abortion or lessening the security of working-class women.

But despite being under consideration since 1923 and narrowly passing in 1982, the lack of a fully ratified equal rights amendment means that women are still denied equal rights under the Constitution (unbeknownst to the 80% of Americans who believe that such an act is already in the Constitution).

When Congress approved of the ERA, it was given a deadline of March 22, 1979 (!), to receive ratification by 38 states. Things looked hopeful then—it received bipartisan support and was endorsed by Nixon, of all people. But the momentum came to a halt when Phyllis Schlafly, the founder of the religious rights advocacy group STOP ERA (and referred to as a “pre-internet internet troll” by Oliver), began rallying conservatives to oppose the ERA after 28 states ratified the endeavor.

Schafly began spreading misinformation about the amendment, claiming it would outlaw sex-segregated bathrooms and expand access to abortion. Her skewed and ill-informed take on the ERA, which revolved around the jeopardization of gender roles under the amendment, led five states to rescind their ratifications, and though Congress extended the deadline by three years, the ERA was narrowly defeated by three votes short of its goal.

The dangers of not having an equal rights amendment embedded in the Constitution are already unfolding in real time, Oliver said. Not only did Congress let the Violence Against Women Act expire in December, but the Trump administration also recently rescinded more than 20 Obama-era policy guidelines on Title IX anti-discrimination laws.