The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) will be put to a vote in the Senate this week, according to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in an announcement on Monday.

“In this ominous hour of American history, the Equal Rights Amendment has never been as necessary and urgent as it is today,” Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement.

Schumer argued for the new vote on the ERA by citing the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last year, as well as the ongoing legal dispute over the popular abortion drug mifepristone.

“Recent events like the Supreme Court’s horrible Dobbs decision, uncertainty with critical care drugs like Mifepristone, and a slew of proposed state actions have women in this country facing an uncertain future,” he said.

In 1972, the ERA, a proposed constitutional amendment that would ensure that all people have the same legal rights, regardless of their sexual orientation, was approved by both chambers of Congress and forwarded to the states for ratification. The amendment had to be ratified by the required 38 states, or three-fourths, by 1979, according to a timetable established by Congress. Although it agreed to extend the deadline to 1982, the amendment was eventually adopted by 35 states.