Phyllis Schlafly, the woman who led the charge against the Equal Rights Amendment, died Monday, her Eagle Forum announced. She was 92.
An anti-feminist icon, Schlafly endorsed Donald Trump for president in March, and called him the “last hope for America.” She bucked the Republican establishment just last month when she endorsed Paul Ryan’s House primary challenger in his unsuccessful bid to unseat the House speaker.
Trump said late Monday that Schlafly helped reshape the conservative movement.
“I was honored to spend time with her during this campaign as she waged one more great battle for national sovereignty,” Trump said. “I was able to speak with her by phone only a few weeks ago, and she sounded as resilient as ever.”
“Our deepest prayers go out to her family and all her loved ones,” he added. “She was a patriot, a champion for women, and a symbol of strength. She fought every day right to the end for America First.”
Schlafly was the face of social conservative values for decades. The Eagle Forum, the organization she founded, called her “an iconic American leader whose love for America was surpassed only by her love of God and her family.”
Schlafly “spent an astounding 70 years in public service of her fellow Americans,” the forum said. “Her focus from her earliest days until her final ones was protecting the family, which she understood as the building block of life. She recognized America as the greatest political embodiment of those values. From military superiority and defense to immigration and trade; from unborn life to the nuclear family and parenthood, Phyllis Schlafly was a courageous and articulate voice for common sense and traditional values.”
