FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

APRIL 17, 2008

 

SENATE REPUBLICANS KILL PRO-LIFE BILL

DEMOCRATS CHARGE POLITICS TRUMP INFORMED CONSENT, WAITING PERIODS

 

NASHVILLE -- Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee today employed a parliamentary maneuver to kill a pro-life bill sponsored by Senator Roy Herron, D-Dresden. SB3512  requires informed consent and 24-hour periods of reflection prior to abortions and clarifies the legal requirement that abortions be performed by physicians.

 

Republican Caucus Chair Sen. Diane Black, Republican Leader Sen. Mark Norris, Judiciary Committee Chair Sen. Mae Beavers, Sen. Paul Stanley, and Sen. Jamie Woodson voted to refer Herron's bill to a summer study committee, effectively killing it. Democrats on the Judiciary Committee voted against the move.

 

"I wonder if this bill would have a different fate if it's sponsor's office was on the third floor of the War Memorial Building," Democratic Leader Sen. Jim Kyle, D-Memphis, said, referring to the fact that Republican senators are housed on the third floor of the War Memorial Building. "There is nothing wrong with this bill except that it doesn't fit the political agenda of certain special interest groups in this state."

 

Opponents of the bill attempted to question its constitutionality; however, Herron noted that current Tennessee Attorney General Robert Cooper and former Attorney General Paul Summers have opined that the bill is constitutionally defensible.

 

Herron, citing a Heritage Foundation study by Michael J. New, PhD, also argued that the measures provided in SB3512 would reduce abortions in Tennessee. "Studies show that giving pregnant women information about their available options reduces the number of abortions," he said. "Some have argued that we must amend the state constitution to protect unborn babies in Tennessee, but the earliest we can do that is three years from now. If our goal is to protect unborn babies, we can pass this bill and begin protecting those babies immediately.""

 

Sen. Doug Jackson, D-Dickson, objected that the motion to refer the bill to a summer study committee was too vague. "Is the object truly to study this bill or is this simply a way to get around this bill on this date?" he said. "The motion doesn't specify who is on the committee or when, or if, it will meet."

 

The motion was amended to state that Beavers, as committee chair, will appoint members of the Judiciary Committee to the study committee and determine when and where the study committee will meet.

 

 

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