Conservative Icon and Champion of Family Values, Phyllis Schlafly Dies at 92

News Staff : Sep 6, 2016
CBN News

"She ... transformed the Republican Party into an unapologetically pro-life institution and inspired generations of conservative activists and elected officials. We honor her memory and her contribution to the pro-life and conservative cause."  -Ralph Reed.

[CBN News] Phyllis Schlafly, longtime conservative political activist and founder of the pro-family Eagle Forum, diedMonday at the age on 92. She is perhaps best-known for leading the fight that defeated the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s. (Screengrab via CBN News)

The Eagle Forum released a statement announcing her death. John Schlafly, her son, said she died of cancer at her St. Louis home.
 
"Phyllis Schlafly spent an astounding 70 years in public service of her fellow Americans," the statement reads. "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."

Schlafly authored 27 books and thousands of articles and spoke tens of thousands of times across the United States.
 
"Her joy in life was evident to all through her smile and wit."
 
Ralph Reed, Chairman of the Faith & Freedom Coalition, called Schlafly: "An American original and conservative icon."
 
"Phyllis and I shared a friendship of over 30 years," Reed said. "Her influence on modern American history is hard to overestimate. She led the fight to defeat the Equal Rights Amendment, transformed the Republican Party into an unapologetically pro-life institution and inspired generations of conservative activists and elected officials. We honor her memory and her contribution to the pro-life and conservative cause."  
 
Schlafly broke onto the national scene in 1964. Her book, "A Choice Not an Echo" resonated with conservatives across the nation and sold three million copies.
 
A factory worker in World War II, she pursued education, graduating from college and going on to obtain a master's degree and a Juris Doctor.
 
However, she considered her greatest achievement founding the Eagle Forum to influence American politics and culture in 1972.