So I’m sure by now all of you have called your state legislators (www.congress.org) asking them to vote “no” on SJR 127. The next thing to do is to attend Thursday’s senate session which starts at 9:00 am AND/OR show up at the Press Conference/Rally planned for tomorrow at 11:00 am, in Legislative Plaza Bldg., Room 31.

The following organizations will be there to protest legislative attacks on abortion and reproductive health care and call for increased efforts in Tennessee to help women and families prevent unintended pregnancy: Planned Parenthood supporters in Tennessee, Tennessee Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, Nashville Women’s Political Caucus, National Council of Jewish Women – Nashville Section, Tennessee National Organization for Women (NOW), Nashville NOW, ACLU-Tennessee, Memphis Regional Planned Parenthood, Tennessee Democratic Womens’ Political Action Committee, and Americans United for Separation of Church and State – Tennessee.

The other 10 states with pending outright abortion bans will be holding simultaneous visibility events tomorrow designed to remind legislators that the majority of Americans support protecting a woman’s right to choose.

From the press release: “While Tennessee legislators are trying to make it harder for women to access abortion services, they are doing very little to help women prevent unintended pregnancy in the first place. Planned Parenthood and our coalition partners stand ready to work with legislators to increase access to birth control and achieve the common goal of fewer abortions. Birth control and accurate sex education are proven tolls that prevent unintended pregnancy – abortion bans do not. Making criminals out of pregnant women is not the solution.”

From the Nashville chapter of Americans United for the Separation of church and state: “It is not the place of government to legislate the religious beliefs of a certain segment of the population, particularly when a large segment of the religious population has contrary beliefs. It is not the place of government to interfere or arbitrate. Government and religious institutions should operate in different spheres and remain separate.”

Look, I do understand the “Pro-Life” position. But a pregnant mother was once a baby too and who are you, or more to the point who are our government officials, to say that their life or health or well-being is more or less important than the child’s?

This post was written by Mary Mancini