FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JANUARY 23, 2008

 

SENATE REPUBLICANS OUT OF STEP WITH FEDERAL LEADERSHIP

U.S. SENATORS EXPRESS SUPPORT FOR ABORTION PROTECTIONS

 

NASHVILLE -- While Republicans in the Tennessee Senate work to ban all abortions in the state, records indicate that the last four Republican United States senators from Tennessee have all professed support for keeping abortions safe and legal in at least the cases of rape, incest, and threats to the lives of pregnant women.

 

Position papers archived by the University of Tennessee state that former senator and presidential candidate Fred Thompson "consistently voted" in favor of federal funding for abortions in "cases of rape, incest, and when the life of the mother is in danger." These papers go on to assert that Thompson "does not believe that early-term abortions should be criminalized."

 

Former U.S. Senate majority leader Bill Frist would seem to agree. In the October 27, 1994 edition of the Knoxville News Sentinel, staff writer Michael Silence reports that Frist said, "I believe that abortion is an option that a woman should have." Frist added that he would not vote to make abortion illegal.

 

Tennessee's current U.S. senators have not been as expansive in their defense of abortion rights. Senator Bob Corker's  campaign website states he believes in safe and legal abortions "in the cases of rape, incest and to save the life of the mother." The March 1, 1996 edition of the New York Times reports that then-presidential candidate Lamar Alexander told a South Carolina debate audience that he would "permit an abortion in the case of rape."

 

So why are Republicans in the Tennessee Senate, with the introduction of Senate Joint Resolution 127, charting a course in opposition to their federal leaders?

 

"Senate Republicans are playing political games with a very serious topic," Senate Democratic Caucus Chairman Senator Joe Haynes, D-Goodlettsville, said. "They are pushing extreme positions on this subject because they know Democrats won't support them.

 

"They think they'll  get some political gain from this, but they are mistaken."

 

 

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