GOP Lawmaker to Women: Back the Democrats

Rep. Richard Hanna co-sponsored the Equal Rights Amendment
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 24, 2012 2:13 PM CDT
GOP Lawmaker to Women: Back the Democrats
Rep. Richard Hanna (R-NY) and representatives of women's groups hold a rally outside the U.S. Capitol March 22, 2012 in Washington, DC.   (Getty Images)

Republican Rep. Richard Hanna has a little advice for women voters: Give your money to the Democrats. "I'll tell you this: Contribute your money to people who speak out on your behalf, because the other side—my side—has a lot of it," said Hanna at an Equal Rights Amendment Rally this week (and yes, he was the only GOP lawmaker there). "I think these are very precarious times for women. ... So many of your rights are under assault." Hanna is a pro-choice Republican who co-sponsored the ERA, Huffington Post reports.

If states had only ratified the amendment, Hanna said, American women would be much better off: "If equality had been enshrined in the Constitution ... I wonder if we would still be hearing today from right-wing presidential contenders that women should not serve in combat ... that women should not use birth control, and that women who do are called names that are not fit to repeat here." Nothing against the GOP, he insists: "I'm trying to help" them, he said. "I think it's the appropriate thing to do." (More Equal Rights Amendment stories.)

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