Join
WAY-FM and the
Crisis Pregnancy Support Center
for the Run For Life on Saturday, October 21 at 8:00am.
To find out more information, call WAY-FM at 615-261-9293 or 877-85-WAYFM.
Welcome to our first edition of Pro-Life News. Truly, it could not come at a more critical juncture in the struggle to protect human life in Tennessee. You may have heard that the Tennessee Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of pro-abortion advocates in their lawsuit against the state called Planned Parenthood of Middle Tennessee v. Sundquist.
Consequently, as of September 15, many of our pro-life statutes were wiped away including informed consent and physician counseling requirements for women seeking abortions, a 48 hour waiting period, and a provision that second trimester abortions be performed only in hospitals. These laws are no longer “constitutional” in Tennessee because they were found to violate a “fundamental right to abortion,”
a right which four of the justices discovered “hidden” in our state constitution.
The profound tragedy of this decision is hard to overestimate. We now have our own state version of Roe vs. Wade—only worse. Years of work by committed Right to Life advocates from throughout Tennessee were all lost in one sweeping judicial “grab” which dissenting Justice William Barker called “dangerous” and contrary to more than two centuries of legal precedent. Barker also criticized his colleagues decision saying “the effect of the Court’s holding today is to remove from the people all power, except by constitutional amendment, to enact reasonable regulations of abortion.”
However, there’s more. Now that Planned Parenthood and the ACLU have won a “right to abortion,” they will begin moving on a lawsuit already pending in Davidson County Circuit Court which demands tax-payer funding of abortion through the TennCare program. Their rationale is that a fundamental right is no right at all if one cannot afford to exercise it.
While we lost a great deal last in the Court’s decision, there is much more at stake. Unless concerned Tennesseans take immediate action, we risk allowing the state courts to overrule the will of the people as clearly expressed by our legislators.
What can you do? Vote Pro-life in November’s elections! Talk to legislative candidates for office and express your concern. Call our toll free number 1-877-CHOOSE LIFE and request copies the pro-life voter’s guide. Most importantly, pray for God to restore respect in America for His holy gift of life.
Don’t delay….do something today to make a difference for those who can’t help themselves!
Brian Harris, President
Tennessee Right to Life
