Roy Exum
There is a perfectly contemptible question that will appear on the ballot when the General Election is held in Tennessee on Nov. 4. You will be led to believe by zealots on both sides that it is about abortion but in my thinking this is not true. I believe it is about taking away freedom from every female who lives in this state and placing what should be a very personal decision in the hands of our male-dominated Tennessee Legislature. If that actually happens, may God help us all.
Voters who go to the polls will be asked to vote "yes" or "no" on a referendum that is being called "Amendment 1," which would amend our State Constitution to read, "Nothing in the Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion," including pregnancies "resulting from rape or incest to save the life of the mother."
While I admit I am no advocate for abortion, I believe very strongly that any question about the reproduction should be decided only by the woman, her mate if he is available, and her medical advisors. Leave rape and incest out of it. To think some hayseed politician in Dresden should have the sway to determine what happens to a female forced to make the toughest decision of her life is absolutely ludicrous.
A "yes" vote on Amendment 1, I am told, would make the State Constitution "neutral on the question of abortion” but a woman who is pushing hard for its passage told Mother Jones Magazine, "The amendment is necessary because our clinics are not regulated or inspected or licensed and are not required to be. And that is a scary thing for a woman."
No, what is scary for a woman is a liar posing as a Christian. (Yes, there are really people like that.) Every clinic in Tennessee, this since the 1970s, has to be licensed to be an ambulatory surgical center and the Tennessee Department of Health has confirmed the complication rate at in-state clinics is virtually nil. Such clinics are inspected before their licenses are renewed.
Let me tell you what has really happened. Conservative lawmakers in such states as Alabama and Mississippi have passed such strict laws against abortions that now 1-in-4 procedures done in Tennessee are to patients who live outside of Tennessee. What has happened in states that have stifled legal procedures has paved the way for what is politely called illegal ones.
This isn't hard math. People with "means," as Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsberg calls those who can afford to go out-of-state, do just that but poor women -- read anything in here you want -- are so desperate for many different reasons they go where? You guessed it -- to the illegal and often deadly madame who knows the tricks with a bent coat-hanger. Go ahead, find out for yourself what happens when well-meaning people make bad decisions "because we want to help." My gracious, vote "no" on Amendment 1.
Right now hundreds of thousands of dollars are pouring into Tennessee from every group from Planned Parenthood to "Right To Life" in what will be an October push to get you all jazzed up about abortion. My suggestion, as is always the case with the crazies from either side, is "follow the money." That will better your focus on people who want to stifle our liberties. Beware of anybody and any group who wants to take something away in this day and age because there is a hook. Worse, it will never happen but ponder if it is your daughter, your niece, your wife or any female. Now go back to the ugly words in Amendment 1 -- rape and incest. Oh?
The answer to abortion in Tennessee can be summed up in one word -- education. Want two? Alright, "sex education." We need to teach it in our junior high schools in a calm yet forceful way because it is one of the core courses that centers around the peril associated with "too late." Tennessee's legislature should aspire to lead the nation in women's health but our Legislature has allowed our state to lag horribly behind in TennCare and whatever else we have that all of us believe should be helping the poor (and pregnant) right now.
How can anyone look at Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey who recently gave $250,000 to a "yes" vote on Amendment 1 without a scowl? This is the dolt who ignores the fact Chattanooga's Erlanger Hospital will be forced to absorb over $90 million in indigent care this year. Ramsey should be leading our state, not coddling some right-wing mob of Bible-thumpers that is willing to give up a woman's freedom to make a point.
I am happy our Governor and our Legislature are conservative but I am saddened a misplaced agenda, one thought up by Republican morons and chased by "Red State" fools, would muddy our progress with a flash-word such as abortion when all they really want is control over women, which parlays into political action committees, big contributions and re-election. Follow the money!
I'm saying it's a shame. It has nothing to do with abortion and everything to do with stifling a woman's right to do what she and her doctor feel is the best thing with her body. The politicians love stuff like that in the Tennessee Legislature and they have for years. Just check. You'll see.
royexum@aol.com