Posted on 11/02/2014 1:29:50 PM PST by Morgana
Next Tuesday more is at stake than control of the United States Senate, important as it is. One example is Tennessee’s “Amendment 1,” which is on the ballot and is intended to neutralize a 2000 ruling by the Tennessee Supreme Court.
In that 4-1 ruling the Court found, “A woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy is a vital part of the right to privacy guaranteed by the Tennessee Constitution.” As a result, Tennessee now boasts a broader right to abortion than that recognized by Roe v. Wade or the U.S. Constitution.
tennessee3The proposed language to be added says, “Nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion.”
The outcome was always going to be close simply because opponents—led (of course) by Planned Parenthood–have vastly outspent proponents. They have demagogued the supposed impact of Amendment 1 in a fashion that is shameful even by pro-abortion standards.
That it will be nip and tuck was borne out by morning’s Tennessean. The newspaper carries a short story headlined, “Poll: Amendment 1 abortion vote ‘too close to call.’”
In it we learn that a poll released by Middle Tennessee State University today found 39% supportive, 32% opposed, with 15% still undecided. (According to Joey Garrison, “Eight percent of respondents said they won’t vote and 6 percent did not answer.”)
Three quick points. First, there is the sweeping impact of the 2000 decision. Common sense pro-life protections were immediately stripped from state law books, including informed consent for women considering abortion, a 48-hour waiting period and requirements that second trimester abortions be performed in equipped and regulated hospitals rather than abortion facilities.
This ruling was subsequently used to justify striking down the Tennessee law which had required licensure, inspection, and regulation of abortion facilities the same as other outpatient surgical facilities.
Second, to pass, the proposed amendment must get 50% of everyone who cast a ballot for governor, not 50% of those who voted on the amendment itself. That means if a voter casts a ballot for governor but does not vote for Amendment 1, it is the same as a “no” vote.
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And third, there is more than meets the eye in the fight over Amendment 1. Tennessee has become a haven for out of state women coming to have their abortions. Citing CDC data, reporter Anita Wadhwani wrote, “One in four abortions in 2010 was sought by an out-of-state woman.” All this while the overall number of abortions has been going down!
That is why a genuinely hysterical piece that ran in the British newspaper, The Guardian, dubbed Tennessee as the “’last lifeboat’ of abortion rights in US south.”
Last week we reprinted a first-rate story about the proposed amendment from the October digital edition of National Right to Life News written by NRLC’s Dr. Randall K. O’Bannon. Here’s the opening:
For all its talk of “letting women decide,” Planned Parenthood is putting more than $1.6 million into an effort in Tennessee to keep decisions about abortion laws in the hands of five unelected state supreme court justices rather than let voters determine, through their elected representatives, what sort of protections there will be for unborn children and their mothers considering abortion.
The focus is on a constitutional amendment—“Amendment 1”—on this fall’s ballot, a response to a 2000 decision by the Tennessee Supreme Court. If approved, it would stop the court from invalidating laws passed by state legislature related to abortion, in the name of “privacy.” Not surprisingly, abortion giant Planned Parenthood is heavily invested in defending its lucrative abortion business and is committed to seeing the measure fail. …
This $1,533,640 from just those regional Planned Parenthood affiliates represents nearly 80% of Vote NO’s contributions for the year!
Take a few minutes to read the analysis provided by Dr. O’Bannon (a native of Tennessee). And, if you live in the Volunteer State, be sure to vote in favor of Amendment 1.
If it passed I wonder if it will take more than a day for a judge to toss it?
I want to see it pass first. The pro choicers always said “lets vote on it” well here it is. Let the people speak on it. Let’s just see how many are pro life and pro choice.
I can’t wait to see how many in Tennessee are really Pro life.
Trust me FReepers I will post that.
Amendment 1 has tremendous grassroots support. Yes on 1 yard signs are everywhere. But we have to get out and vote! By the way, I am voting for the Republicans. It’s true, they aren’t very conservative, but the media thinks they are, and the media hates them. So I’m voting Yes on 1 and Republican.
They cannot *toss* it. It becomes part of the Tennessee State Constitution.
Federal courts have tossed state constitutional provisions on federal grounds (supposedly). Most recently on “marriage rights.”
“They cannot *toss* it. It becomes part of the Tennessee State Constitution.”
Cool.
But I say pass it and make them.
Federal courts have tossed constitutional amendments a lot in recent years I think. Like ones defining marriage
I think its out-of-staters who are running the ads and push for abortion and to make it look like Tennesseans want abortion on demand and to say no on Amend 1...
They think we’re stupid.
The majority of Tennesseans ARE pro-life. If you look at the $$$$ spent to tell people absolute LIES about what this Amendment will do, you would understand how EASILY well-meaning people can be mislead...particularly due to the necessary legal wording of that Amendment.
Abortion Facilities Continue To Fund ‘Vote No’ Campaign
90% of Reported Campaign Funds Supplied by Abortion Profiteers
As expected, pro-abortion opponents of Amendment 1 continue to draw nearly all their support and funding from the abortion industry itself.
Release of the most recent ‘Vote No’ campaign disclosure shows just 100 individual donors statewide contributing more than $100 each. In contrast, 8 abortion facilities in Tennessee and across the country contributed a total $1.4 million dollars of $1.5 million reported raised this quarter.
$817,140 Planned Parenthood of Memphis
$500,000 Planned Parenthood of Middle & East TN
$42,000 Planned Parenthood of Chicago
$32,500 Memphis Center for Reproductive Health
$15,700 ACLU
$7,500 Knoxville Center for Reproductive Health
$5,000 Planned Parenthood California
$1,000 Planned Parenthood of North Carolina
$1,000 Planned Parenthood, New York
$1,424,840 90% of contributions
The Yes on 1 campaign reported 600 Tennesseans contributing more than $100 for a total of $455,968. The Vote No campaign reported 104 Tennesseans contributing more than $100 for a total of $117,906.
The 3rd quarter disclosure is here: https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/yeson1tn/pages/33/attachments/original/1413220230/Yes_on_1_3rd_Qtr_Report.pdf?1413220230
Please support us here in Tennessee with your prayers. God is bigger than their dollars.
“Amendment 1 has tremendous grassroots support. Yes on 1 yard signs are everywhere........”
I’m SOOOO glad to hear that!!!!!
Oh I know Planned Parenthood has an abortion capitol there. People from elsewhere come in for abortions. It’s sick.
Yes I know PP lies. I sure hope the majority does not buy into it. I hope Amendment 1 passes by a landslide.
That’s why I’m asking for your prayers. Many people here have worked VERY hard to push for the passage of this Amendment.
Yes on 1 !!!!
You got it.
This will NOT be *tossed* if passed. There is no underlying pseudo-right they can utilize to make such an attempt.
God bless you, Morgana! :-)
What happen if a judge did toss it? Governor & legislature affirm the vote and use authorities to shut down death clinics. What could possibly happen to force them open again? A judge writes an order? Is Obama or Holder going to send in militarized HHS agents to reopen and run the death clinics. Why can’t we get our state governments to seize their/our 10th Amendment rights and enforce them? There is no Constitutional right to slaughtering a baby in the womb. Its not the same thing as if say people were to vote to ban guns. There would death states and non death states. As trends continue eventually very few states would be pro death as life is winning among more people.
A judge says its void
The governor and AG says “We tried” and throws their hands in the air. surrender. That has been what happens in the gay marriage thing.
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