January 20, 2004 : Take Immediate Action - Stop Effort to Remove Privacy Protection From State Constitution

Dear Friends,

We just learned that SJR127, the dangerous constitutional amendment exempting abortion from the privacy guarantee of the Tennessee Constitution, is scheduled for the Senate Finance, Ways & Means Committee on Tuesday, February 3, 2004 at 8:30 a.m. It is very important that pro-choice, pro-privacy folks call legislators and tell them to vote against SJR127.

This lengthy alert includes lots of information that we urge you to share with your friends and family and to use as you urge both members of the Senate Finance, Ways & Means Committee and your state senator to vote against SJR127. Contact information for the Senate Finance, Ways and Means committee members is located at the end of this message (omitted for web) . Contact information for your state senator can be found at www.congress.org by entering your zip code and clicking the "state" option. Please make your calls to the Finance, Ways and Means committee members no later than Monday afternoon (2/2/04) and calls to your state senators as soon as possible thereafter.

WHAT SJR127 DOES - SJR127 has many sponsors in the Senate and House. While supporters of the resolution - who are on record as anti-choice - say the resolution does not affect access to abortion, they are being disingenuous. Were Roe v. Wade to be overturned, and our State Constitution amended, women in Tennessee would not be protected under the current afforded privacy right to obtain an abortion in this state.

OTHER TALKING POINTS - It is VITAL that State Senators and House Representatives begin to hear from pro-privacy, pro-choice, and pro-states' rights people ASAP. SJR127 jeopardizes privacy rights and undermines the integrity and the independence of the Tennessee Supreme Court whose jurisdiction it is to interpret the rights under the State Constitution. SJR127 destroys state sovereignty rights; Tennessee would become the first state to give up its sovereign rights. Legislators should be reminded that this effort could lead to other erosions of privacy guarantees under the Tennessee Constitution (e.g., freedom of worship - Article 1, Section 7; protection against unreasonable searches and seizures - Article 1, Section 3; Freedom of Speech and Press, Article 1, Section 19.)

PROCEDURE AND TIMING - If the resolution passes Senate Finance, Ways & Means Committee, it will be schedule for a Senate Floor vote. We will let you know when that happens - we need to make sure calls are being made to Senators and the Balcony is filled for the debate. If SJR127 passes the Senate, it will be scheduled on House Calendar. If the resolution passes both Chambers during this session, it would be reintroduced during the first session of the 104th TGA (and have to pass by a 2/3 vote in both Chambers. Then the resolution would be placed on the state-wide ballot in 2006.

BACKGROUND - The introduction of this amendment is the result of the ACLU/Planned Parenthood victory in the Tennessee Supreme Court. We successfully challenged several restrictive provisions in the Tennessee Abortion Statute. In September 2000, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that several provisions were unconstitutional and that the Tennessee Constitution afforded women a right to privacy regarding her right to seek an abortion. The decision is momentous because it reaffirms the right to privacy found in the Tennessee Constitution.

ACTION - Please speak out and make sure your legislator knows that privacy rights should not be taken away because of one's gender and that our State Constitution should protect all Tennesseans. ACLU, Planned Parenthood, NOW, and the Women's Political Caucus are actively lobbying against this dangerous constitutional amendment.

Please forward this email message to as many people as you know you might take action!

Many thanks.
Hedy Weinberg, Executive Director

CONTACT the members of the Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee and your own State Senator/House Representative and tell them to vote against SJR127. (If you email legislators, please be sure to include your street address)