There was a fight this past legislative session which David “I Make Stuff Up Because the Means Justifies the Ends” Fowler of Tennessee Right to Life purports to have won:
Pro-life Tennesseans ended the state Legislative session with an impressive win on a long sought priority: removal of preferential treatment for Planned Parenthood, the state’s largest promoter and provider of abortion services.
By strong majorities of 25-7 in the state Senate and 69-22 in the state House, pro-life legislators in both parties took action to remove language first placed into Tennessee law during the early 1970’s which specifically named abortion provider Planned Parenthood as an officially recognized adjunct to state family planning services.
In addition to removing the clause, pro-life legislators enacted language which mandates that the Tennessee Department of Health give priority and preference to local public health departments in the awarding of family planning funds rather than private, non-profit organizations.
If Fowler and his ilk continue to ignore the good work that Planned Parenthood does to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies in Tennessee which thereby reducing the number of total abortions, then it’s only a matter of time before they will come after your contraceptives for the same purpose – to further their own myopic agenda.
Oh wait, they already are. Fowler knows that the Title X funds represented in this legislation cannot be used to end pregnancies and he also know that for nearly 40 years, Planned Parenthood in Tennessee has received Title X family planning dollars and have used the money to provide reproductive and sexual health care – including contraception – to over 11,500 men and women in Tennessee who could otherwise not afford it.
Better start stocking up on your prophylactics while you still can.
Watch the heroics of some of Tennessee’s Democratic legislators who tried to stop this “compromise bill” from passing.
Rep. JoAnne Favors (D-Chattanooga):
Rep. Brenda Gilmore (D-Nashville):
Chairman Mike Turner (D-Old Hickory):
Rep. Sherry Jones (D-Nashville):
Rep. Jeanne Richardson (D-Memphis):
I support the right to life organization. I do wonder why we give free condoms away for purposes other than STD awareness there not that expensive (I use them).
Thank you for posting the comments from sorely outnumbered legislators whom have our collective “backs” (so-to-speak). The thing is, they cannot do this alone anymore. We have to help them out by making phone calls and writing letters to them and to our local editors of print media. Most importantly, though, we need to remain vigilant during off-year elections. Get registered and get educated on the issues!