At the time of Smeal's second term of Presidency in NOW, Ronald Reagan was also elected as the United States President. Around the time of his inauguration in January, Smeal and the NOW organization launched and led a national campaign to stop Reagan's anti-abortion "Human Life Amendment." Smeal was also the first person to coin the term "gender gap" when she analyzed in the National NOW Times just how different the votes by men versus the votes by women really are. Despite the grand efforts made by NOW during Smeal's presidency to get the ERA ratified, towards the end of Smeal's second term in 1982, the Amendment was shy three states and therefore did not get passed.