Tennessee General Assembly Advances Bill To Restrict Abortion Access

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 22 May 2009 - 3:00 PDT

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The Tennessee House on Monday voted 76-22 to approve a resolution (S.J.R. 127) to amend the state constitution to allow the Legislature to impose stricter limits on abortion, the AP/Memphis Commercial Appeal reports. The resolution, which aims to void a 2000 Tennessee Supreme Court ruling, was passed by the state Senate in March, but it still has hurdles to overcome. In order to change the state constitution, the measure will have to be approved by a two-thirds majority of both houses in the next General Assembly, either in 2011 or 2012, before it could go to voters in 2014.

The 2000 court decision declared that the state constitution provides stronger protections than the U.S. Constitution for abortion rights. The decision nullified a number restrictions the Tennessee Legislature previously had adopted, including requirements that clinics provide women with specific information about abortion procedures, a 48-hour waiting period and a requirement that all but first trimester abortions take place in hospitals.

The measure would add a provision to the state constitution declaring that, "Nothing in this constitution secures or protects a right to abortion, or requires the funding of an abortion. The people retain the right through their elected state representatives and state senators to enact, amend or repeal statutes regarding abortion, including but not limited to circumstances of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest or when necessary to save the life of the mother." An amendment to the resolution failed on Monday that would have allowed abortions in "cases involving rape or incest or in cases where the procedure is medically necessary to save the life of the pregnant woman." Rep. Debra Maggart (R), sponsor of the resolution, said that it "just returns the constitution of the state of Tennessee to neutral on the subject of abortion."

Rep. Henry Fincher (D) said, "Assuming there's no change in the makeup of the General Assembly, there's a good chance that it will pass then and go to the ballot." Rep. Jeanne Richardson (D) said, "I have a feeling that in this country if a majority of women tried to tell men what to do in their sex lives and what to do with their own bodies, it would fail utterly and miserably" (Johnson, AP/Memphis Commercial Appeal, 5/19).

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