Phyllis Schlafly, the matriarch of the American conservative movement, passed away Monday night at the age of 92.
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“There was no greater defender of the American family than Phyllis Schlafly”.
According to Federal Election Commission reports, a political action committee bearing her name was registered by Ed Martin, the president of the Eagle Forum.
Schlafly’s family was with her when she died Monday afternoon of cancer at her home in St. Louis, her son John Schlafly said.
Phyllis is survived by her six children, 16, grandchildren, 3 great grand-children who gave her such joy.
“Her focus from her earliest days until her final ones was protecting the family, which she understood as the building block of life”, read the statement. She was the author of a number of books as well as a column carried by 75 newspapers. Before the United States Senate, 1981. She was of the opinion that ERA would take away gender-specific privileges now enjoyed by women, including “dependent wife” benefits under Social Security, separate restrooms for males and females, and exemption from the Selective Service (the Army draft). Funeral arrangements are still pending.
In her time, Mrs. Schlafly was one of the most polarizing figures in American public life, a self-described housewife who displayed a moral ferocity reminiscent of the ax-wielding prohibitionist Carry Nation.
“Phyllis Schlafly will be remembered for her courageous leadership in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds”, said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council. “Her legacy will live on in the movement she led and the millions she inspired”, Trump said. She struggled with it, and those of us who disagreed with her have more in common than either side would like to admit.
Schlafly is most known for organizing the Stop ERA movement as the Equal Rights Amendment sailed through Congress and 30 states in 1972 and 1973. “In order to pick classes to fit my schedule I picked political science”, Schlafly recalled in a 2007 AP interview. She fought the good fight and wasn’t afraid of a tough fight. “Thank you, Phyllis. We will not grow tired”.
Schlafly promoted traditional family values and once told a reporter that she always listed her occupation as “mother” when filling out applications. “I have personally lost a dear friend of over 40 years”. “Whether we were working closely together or, on occasion, debating each other, I always respected her fearless advocacy and never doubted her honest friendship”.
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“Phyllis Schlafly untiringly advanced a pro-life vision for America, one in which the unique contribution of women to the world – giving life- was respected and supported in law”. The Equal Rights Amendment would have opened the door to eliminating gender-specific bathrooms, put women on track for the draft, and revoked tax protections for dependent women not in the workforce.
