Lands’ End apologizes for Steinem profile, but not tote bag fundraising

The clothing company Lands’ End has apologized for recently featuring longtime pro-abortion activist Gloria Steinem on its website and catalog as a “legend” for her work on women’s equality.

The profile centered around Steinem’s work for the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and 80s, not abortion. However, more recent versions of the ERA have been interpreted as potentially invalidating various pro-life state laws. “One reason we need an Equal Rights Amendment is because nowhere in the Constitution does the word ‘women’ appear,” Steinem told Lands’ End. “We need a constitutional principle of female equality.”

“We understand that some of our customers were offended by the inclusion of an interview in a recent catalog with Gloria Steinem on her quest for women’s equality,” the company said in a statement Wednesday. “We thought it was a good idea and we heard from our customers that, for different reasons, it wasn’t. For that, we sincerely apologize. Our goal was to feature individuals with different interests and backgrounds that have made a difference for our new Legends Series, not to take any political or religious stance.”

The statement did not, however, address its accompanying sale of a tote bag adorned with the logo of Steinem’s ERA Coalition, from which they would donate $3 dollars apiece to the organization’s Fund for Women’s Equality, Inc. The ERA Coalition’s website does not directly mention abortion, but does list a number of pro-abortion organizations among its affiliates, including the Center for Reproductive Rights and National Organization for Women.