A state House sub-committee has once again ended the bid for a constitutional amendment on abortion. By a 6 to 3 party-line vote, the House Public Health Subcommittee voted down a resolution calling for the amendment. The amendment, which would have gone before Tennessee voters in 2010, says there is no protection for abortion in the state constitution.
Today’s partisan vote came after Democrat Nathan Vaughn of Kingsport said he’d been barred from becoming a co-sponsor. Vaughn, a pro-life supporter, says he travels the country talking with National Right to Life organizers.
“… about why it’s important for us to be united on that issue, those who believe in it, both Democrats or Republican. And to be told I could not sign on to a bill today, because I’m a Democrat, I’m offended.”
Vaughn says Republican sponsor Dolores Gresham kept him from signing on. Monday night Gresham told the House she didn’t want Democratic sponsors because the bill was traditionally killed in a subcommittee controlled by Democrats.
Today, Gresham told that subcommittee a vote against the resolution silences Tennessee’s citizens.
“No sound …no tongue … no voice. And indeed, no freedom.”
But Gresham was challenged by Knoxville Democrat Joe Armstrong, who hammered away at the partisan aspect of the vote, saying the issue only comes up during election years.
WEB EXTRA
The final tally, 6 to 3:
For: Chris Crider of Milan, Tom DuBois of Columbia, Debra Maggart of Hendersonville, all Republican.
Against: Lois DeBerry of Memphis, Joanne Favors of Chattanooga, Sherry Jones of Nashville, new member Jeanne Richardson of Memphis, Mary Pruitt of Nashville, and Joe Armstrong of Knoxville, all Democrats.
The subcommittee killed the bill after a senior Democrat directed staff to rerun video footage from Monday night’s House meeting, when Democrat Nathan Vaughn from Kingsport announced he had been barred by the Republican sponsor of the abortion amendment from being a co-sponsor.
When Nathan Vaughn stood in pro-Life Republicans in past sessions of the legislature, he was criticized by fellow Democrats. But Monday night the biggest Democrat in the House, Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, suggested why the backers of the anti-abortion bill were keeping him off the resolution.
“Representative Vaughn, it’s probably because they’re going to endorse your opponent.”
Naifeh has argued consistently that the Right to Life organization has used its issue in support of Republicans. House Health Committee Chairman Joe Armstrong today agreed:
“It’s funny that it comes up every other year, when there is an election on the line, and that partisans are quick to bring this back into the fold, yet in the off-year this is never mentioned. It’s quite obvious that this has really become more of , really, a political ploy by extreme legislators to create a partisan issue of Right-to-Life in November.”
The Exact wording of the proposed Constitutional amendment, as drafted. You may also want to look up SJR 127 on the state legislative database.
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 circumstances of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest.
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM