Yes On Amendment One Returns The Power To The People

  • Wednesday, October 29, 2014

I cannot understand the No on Amendment One commercials that talk about government involvement.  Every single ad does not have an ounce of truth in it, not even a slant in the direction of truth. Nothing changes in law or regulations if Amendment One passes so what are they talking about?

In September of 2000, four unelected justices on the Tennessee Supreme Court sided with Planned Parenthood and struck down common sense abortion regulations and rendered them useless under their interpretation of our state constitution that served to protect women. Common sense regulations like informed consent, a waiting period, parental consent, physician with visiting privileges of an area hospital and many more.  

A LMSW Court Liaison sought me out recently and informed me that a minor only had to tell her the parents did not support her decision and a judge would sign the consent form, therefore allowing such minor to have a major medical procedure without the knowledge of her parents.  Think about that, a 13, 14 or 15 year old girl can choose an abortion without her parents ever knowing the risk, emotionally or physically, but yet her school cannot even dispense a Tylenol.

Why is that? Follow the money.  What if she was raped?  Who protects her?  Amendment One only reverses that radical decision of Planned Parenthood vs. State of Tennessee in 2000, it does nothing else.  Nothing.  Why should Planned Parenthood get to decide what is right for Tennesseans without any voice of the people?  Amendment One passes no law or regulation, it only sets the issue back to neutral ground and then both sides can later lobby their ‘elected’ representatives to plea their cases.  

It seems Planned Parenthood somehow got four justices to side with them so now they do not have to consider that we are still a democracy in this country and like it or not, we elect representatives as our voice. Why should  Planned Parenthood control us?  

If anyone has doubts about the regulations being unenforceable and so relaxed in Tennessee as to render us a destination state for abortion, please check out the Center for Disease Control’s statement published on Nov. 29, 2013 that Tennessee has the third highest out of state residents coming to obtaining abortions in Tennessee than anywhere in the United States.  Women would not need to travel here if we had the same protections as their states do, like the ones mentioned above? If we had the same regulations and requirements, they would not come here.  

I believe that Tennesseans would like to return power back to the people, through their elected representatives, to save lives and give women all their options, instead of having Planned Parenthood and four unelected justices decide what is right and wrong for Tennessee women.

Please vote Yes on Amendment One. 

Grace Bush
Chattanooga

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