NASHVILLE - The Tennessee Democrat Party today continued to defend the culture of death that is today’s abortion-on-demand industry.

In a statement issued Wednesday, the TDP sought to portray Tennessee Republicans as divided on the question of whether abortion should be kept legal in certain cases, such as rape, incest and the health of the mother-to-be.

“While Democrats criticize Republicans for our diversity of opinion on those issues, they have reminded the people of Tennessee that the Tennessee Republican Party is the party that stands firm on protecting life and unborn children,” said Robin Smith, chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party. “The Tennessee Democrat Party, meanwhile, marches in lock-step with the abortion industry in seeking to protect Tennessee’s status as the mostly liberal abortion state in the nation.”

“This issue is a matter of right versus wrong, not left versus right,” Smith continued. “When a teenage girl can more easily obtain an abortion in this heartland state than to have her ears pierced at the mall, the laws of this state don’t support that which is good and decent.”

An average of 16,342 abortions were performed in Tennessee annually from 1978 through 2005, according to data collected by the Tennessee Department of Health. Nationally, only 1 percent of abortions are performed because of rape or incest, 3 percent because of fetal abnormalities, and 3 percent to protect the health of the mother. 93 percent of abortions are done as a means of birth control.

Republicans the Tennessee Senate are working to pass a resolution allowing Tennesseans to vote on a constitutional amendment that would simply leave future abortion policy questions up to the elected legislature rather than the courts if the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down the Roe v. Wade decision.

The constitutional amendment would not ban abortion in Tennessee – rather, it would permit the legislature to enact commonsense regulations such as informed consent, a waiting period, and parental notification in the case of a minor seeking an abortion.

“Democrat Sen. Joe Haynes of Nashville is leading the charge against the proposed constitutional amendment because he supports the extreme position of abortion-on-demand and public funding of the slaughter,” said Bill Hobbs, communications director for the Tennessee Republican Party. “Sen. Haynes opposes all restrictions on abortions and supports public funding, according to statements he gave to Project Vote Smart.* That is an extremist position out-of-step with the views of most Tennesseans.”

The resolution would reverse the Tennessee Supreme Court decision in 2000 that struck down provisions in Tennessee law requiring that women to receive “informed consent” information about the surgery and to wait 48 hours before they receive an abortion. The court also ruled against a state requirement that all abortions after the first trimester be performed in a hospital. That ruling made Tennessee more liberal than the courts required in Roe v. Wade and made the right to abortion a “fundamental right” in Tennessee.

“The extremism of the Tennessee Democrat Party on the abortion issue was on display again just last week,” Hobbs said. “Tennessee Democrats are so determined to protect the abortion industry that a Democrat-controlled House subcommittee killed a commonsense proposal to protect the health of the mother by requiring abortion clinics to adhere to the same cleanliness standards as hospitals.”

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* Sen. Haynes’ Project Vote Smart answers can be found online at this link:
http://www.vote-smart.org/npat.php?can_id=24348

Bill Hobbs
Communications Director
Tennessee Republican Party
2424 21st Avenue, Suite 200
Nashville, Tennessee 37212
Phone: (615) 269-4260
Email: billhobbs@tngop.org