The Financial Prioritization of Gender
December 03, 2025
The nation watched as the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022) made clear that abortion access was not a human right and instead was up to states to decide. We watched in horror as our bodily autonomy was stripped away from us, our right to fundamental healthcare vanishing in front of our eyes.
We didn’t take this sitting down.
In the days and months to follow, state governments responded by implementing their current or passing new state Equal Rights Amendments in efforts to protect bodily autonomy. The progress made in the states shows what our country could look like with a federal constitutional gender equality.
Most of the existing state Equal Rights Amendments were passed before 2022 and the Dobbs v. Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization decision. Twenty-three states have implemented a state Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) into their Constitution (State-Level ERAs - Feminist Majority Foundation), and four states have pending ERAs. Since then, Nevada and New York has passed their own ERAs - New York’s specifically covers abortion. State Equal Rights Amendments have already been used within judicial settings to provide strict scrutiny and precedent for cases pertaining to gender discrimination and reproductive healthcare (i.e Rojo v. Kilger (1990), Planned Parenthood v. State of Utah (2022), Darrin v. Gould (1975)).
State-level ERAs are potent tools for progress. Most are modeled on the federal ERA providing protection against discrimination on the basis of sex; however, more recently, they go further, additionally including protections against discrimination based on gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, and more. New York’s state ERA, just recently passed, includes explicit protections for pregnancy outcomes, including abortion. These amendments ensure that any law involving gender discrimination is held to a strong legal standard, and for some state supreme courts, strict scrutiny. This strong state constitutional backing has already helped set legal precedent and strengthened the fight for gender equality in courts across the country.
Efforts to pass state Equal Rights Amendments go hand in hand with the urgent need for the federal ERA to be fully enforced as the 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution. Across the country, we are witnessing a coordinated rollback of women’s rights and freedoms. States are refusing to pass basic equality measures while also restricting access to reproductive healthcare, attacking bodily autonomy, targeting gender-affirming care, and forcing residents to travel across state lines to access fundamental healthcare.
These attacks are not isolated—they are part of a broader attempt to erode civil rights and constitutional protections. Both state and federal ERAs are important. Together, they bring us closer to a nation where everyone’s rights are protected—no matter their sex or gender. We must protect all of us—no matter what state we live in.
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