Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Legislature / Politics / Woods The Pointlessness of Tennessee's Abortion Debate
Posted by Jeff Woods on Tue, Mar 17, 2009 at 6:20 AM
Once SJR127 clears the Senate again, probably next Monday, so what? It still has to make it through the House. Then in the next General Assembly, it has to pass both chambers by a two-thirds majority. It couldn't go on the ballot until 2014, and it would take a majority of voters to strip abortion rights out of the state constitution. And then after all that ... abortion still will be legal in Tennessee thanks to Roe v. Wade.
If the state constitution is amended, pro-lifers can start passing laws to whittle away at the right. They can try to force women to look at ultrasounds or obtain death certificates for fetuses. Or they can order physicians to read scary scripts on the evils of abortion to their patients. But federal courts surely would strike down those laws. A waiting period is the worst restriction that might withstand a court test. A parental consent law already is on the books here. So we'd wind up almost exactly where we were before all this started at the beginning of the decade when the state Supreme Court ruled in Planned Parenthood v. Sundquist.
Here's all that's really happening: Republicans are paying homage to the moral scolds of their extreme base again. Conservative Christians are in a weakened state in the nation's capital, but here in the Bible Belt they can command this annual rite from their politicians. It's a great fund-raising gimmick!
The Eagle Forum's Bobbie Patray, stern queen bee of Tennessee's evangelicals, has been fighting for decades to force women to have babies. She's watching her devotees in the legislature for even the slightest sign of tolerance for others. She knows this won't stop abortions. But she isn't bothered by the pointlessness of it all. She's letting lawmakers know who's boss.
Update: Kleinheider comments. "SJR127 is the gift that keeps on giving. A long protracted process towards a constitutional amendment that animates the social right and gets them to the polls? What could be better, politically speaking?"
Comments (9)
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And the Republican Party wonders why true conservatives puke in their mouths just a little when they think about it.
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You have to wonder about women like her! Is it ego? I wonder what her children remember about her as a fun, loving Mom when they were little?NOT. Probably not warm fuzzies, maybe cold pricklys.
The people who are supporting this are the same ones who oppose sex education in our schools, oppose birth control and who support the ban on gay folks adopting. So they want teenage girls to get pregnant because they haven't been taught how to use protection and if they know a little it is not easily available to them and then if they give the child up for adoption or if the child is taken from them the child then can spend years in the foster care system because only straight married folks can adopt and there are enough of them to take care of the children. Now that makes all kinds of sense.
This kind of stuff always reminds me of Phyllis Schafly who had a lengthy career telling other women they have no business having careers. Another shitbag hypocrite masquerading as a Christian, as my dear frined would say.
It comes down to a simple summary made months ago. The State Constitution has always been about empowering the people. These forces would have the Tennessee Constitution strip the people of a personal liberty to impose their own narrow-minded religious dogma.
We were recognized as having an enlightened approach to women's rights to control their bodies and reproductive health protections. That obviously didn't sit well with these forces. Legislated morality is always bemoaned by these forces as unenforceable when the focus is minority civil rights. Well it also applies here. Taxpayer funding can be better utilized on more pertinent matters than setting this state up for a Supreme Court challenge to Roe vs Wade which it can't win. Just as Bristol Palin's public humiliation showed, forced conduct invariably short circuits and fails.
It make take years for this law to affect abortion rights, however, the political climate in this state already is. Clinics will not provide abortion after 16 weeks, which means parents who receive a poor prenatal diagnosis are out of luck. I should know. I received a diagnosis of Trisomy 18 at 19 weeks last summer and was told we couldn't terminate in here. We would have to travel to Atlanta.
Even if it does take years, I'm afraid of what will happen to women who really need an abortion if this law passes.
free at guidestar.org with registration:
Tennessee Eagle Forum
2007 IRS Form 990
Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax
http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2007/470/907/2007-470907634-043a4998-9O.pdf
Johnson City Press Weekly Poll (Johnson City in Northeast Tennessee)
http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/09/index.php
"Should the state Constitution be amended to make it *tougher* to obtain an abortion in Tennessee?"
Yes — 16%
No — 81%
Undecided — 2%
I Don't Care — 0%
Subtotal Votes — 6555 as of 07:30 a.m. April 5, 2009.
