LIBERADIO(!)

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?

Please contact (email and phone) your state legislators today and ask them to vote “no” on SJR127 which states that “Nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion.” Passing this ammendment would guarantee that women in Tennessee would not be protected under the current state constitutional right to privacy (which currently ensures a woman’s right to choose) should Roe v. Wade be overturned.

From the ACLU-TN: “SJR127 is paving the way for abortion to be outlawed in this state; were Roe overturned, and our State Constitution amended, the State Legislature could pass a bill outlawing abortion and women seeking abortion would no longer be protected by the privacy right in the State Constitution and we would not be able to pursue a successful challenge to the ban instate court.”

Procedure and timing – SJR127 is scheduled for its second reading on the Senate Floor on Monday night, March 6. Supporters of the constitutional amendment hope for the third and final reading of SJR127 on Thursday, March 9. It is vital that pro-choice and pro-privacy folks begin calling their elected officials now and tell them to vote against SJR127.

If SJR127 were to pass the Senate on its third reading, it will then be considered by the House – in at least two committees and on the House Floor. If the resolution passes both the Senate and House Chambers during this (104th) TGA session, it would be reintroduced during the 105th TGA where it would have to pass by a super-majority (2/3) vote in each chamber either during 2007 or 2008. Were it to pass by a super-majority during the 105th TGA, SJR127 would be placed on the state-wide ballot in 2010.

Contact information for your state senator and house representative can be found at www.congress.org by entering your zip code and clicking the “state” option.

BREAKING NEWS: CNN Reports that Gov. Mike Rounds signs legislation banning nearly all abortions in South Dakota.

We already knew President Bush was, er, “mistaken” when he said he didn’t “think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees” but yesterday the AP released a video confirming his lie oops I mean “mistake.”.

“On the eve of Hurricane Katrina’s fateful landfall, President Bush was confident. His homeland security chief appeared relaxed. And warnings of the coming destruction – breached or overrun levees, deaths at the New Orleans Superdome and overwhelming needs for post-storm rescues – were delivered in dramatic terms to all involved. All of it was captured on videotape.”

So the question is, if they knew what was going to happen was their failure incompetence, indifference, or both? We told you that this administration’s claims that they could keep you safe was all bluster but you choose not to believe us. Well, do you feel safer now, punk?