A proposal for a constitutional amendment to limit abortion will be before the Tennessee General Assembly early this year, after a key committee approved it today- the first day of the 2008 session.
The Senate Judiciary Committee, made up of five Republicans and four Democrats, approved an amendment that could be on a referendum ballot as early as the year 2010.
All five Republicans and Democratic Senator Doug Jackson voted for the anti-abortion amendment.
Sponsor Diane Black says the aim of the amendment is to return neutrality to Tennessee law. In a court case during the Don Sundquist administration, the state Supreme Court ruled that the Tennessee constitution guarantees a woman’s right to privacy, making some state restrictions against abortion unconstitutional. Since then pro-Life forces have attempted to overturn the ruling by changing the constitution.
The Judiciary Committee turned down, by a five to four vote, an amendment that would have exempted women who were pregnant by rape, incest, or where the pregnancy threatens the life of the woman.
Formal Right-to-Life organizations have opposed such exemptions in the past. The issue usually arises in election years. It has previously passed in a Republican-dominated Senate but failed in a Democratic-controlled House.
Political observers believe that the committee’s immediate passage of the measure indicates a legislative session likely marked by partisan in-fighting.
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