Abortion extremists storm Tennessee capitol… because it worked so well for them in Texas?
Yesterday was the first day of session for the new Tennessee legislature.
It was particularly notable for those involved in the abortion issue because it symbolized a new day for the Tennessee pro-life movement in the wake of Amendment 1’s passage last November.
Amendment 1 undid a radical 2000 Tennessee Supreme Court decision claiming the right to abortion was sacrosanct in the state constitution. As a result, previously passed pro-life protections were struck down, and pro-lifers have been unable to enact any new pro-life laws since.
Tennessee Right to Life is backing three bills that would restore laws the Supremes struck down – informed consent, a waiting period, and abortion clinic regulations.
Another legislator is introducing a bill requiring abortionists to show ultrasounds to abortion-minded mothers of the baby they are about to kill.
And so, a lawfully executed pro-life floodgate has been opened in Tennessee… which pro-abortion extremists apparently can’t handle
The abortion lobby boasted it would have 1,500 marchers “greet” legislators at the capitol yesterday.
But it’s never a good idea to pre-advertise crowd numbers. Commercialappeal.com reported the actual tally was 1/3 that, 500-600, which is close to the 400-500 I’m told pro-lifers on the ground counted.
From that throng about 50 wild hairs left before speakers had even finished and stormed the capitol building.
Why, because that tactic worked so well for them in Texas? Here’s a bit of video of the mob scene…
[youtube]http://youtu.be/INezDEJEOUA?list=PL82051D7C7F98484C[/youtube]
At least I don’t hear anyone chanting “Hail, Satan” or hurling used tampons or bags of feces. That’s an improvement.
Republican lawmakers were unfazed, even finding the scene a bit humorous. Reported timesfreepress.com:
More than 20 Tennessee state troopers initially barred their way to the stairwell leading to the second floor where the house and senate chambers are located and where lawmakers were being sworn in.
As a man with a drum pounded and protesters demanded to go upstairs, troopers let a number go….
About a dozen or so young women chanted “pro-choice, pro-family” as senators streamed out of the chamber.
Senate Speaker Pro Tempore Bo Watson, R-Hixson, watched, smiling.
“Welcome to America,” Watson said when asked by a reporter what he thought about the protest. “That’s fine. It’s part of the process.”
Once the legislators left, so did the protesters.
“It’s America at it’s best,” said Senate Republican Majority Leader Mark Norris.
[Top photo via Tennesseean; bottom photo via Rick Locker on Twitter]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
“Stop the War on Women” signs? Have they learned nothing?
The one I love is the “Trust Women” sign. Well, we do trust women, so we want them to have all the facts and information to make an informed decision. The people that hold up those signs are against admitting privileges, ultrasound laws, and any language that humanizes the child question. So really????
The reality is that Tennessee voters — and Tennessee women — do not trust an unregulated abortion industry to pay attention to the best interests and care of their patients.
So they amended their constitution and elected law makers to fix the problem.
A protest of 300 to 500 persons is impressive. But a clear majority of voters have already expressed their protest — So this tantrum by the extremists is a little bit late to be effective.
we want them to have all the facts and information to make an informed decision. – and if they then decide to abort? You won’t try to stop them?
lol…the “politicians, out of my vagina” chant cracked me up
The politicians are so insulting to women. “Amused” that women will die because of this amendment, a very bad bill, that has been written to remove women’s rights of privacy and freedom of religion from our TN Constitution. This amendment is a smoke screen that distracts citizens from our representatives who do not tend to the business of government but must interfere in private health decisions of citizens. They say don’t regulate business practices, but we have to regulate women’s bodies? When laws are allowed that force one to not have an abortion, it opens the doors to laws that force one to have an abortion. Politicians who are strangers to citizens in this crisis, should stay out of decisions that face the person involved, their family, the doctor, and their God — not politicians who seem to believe they are all powerful.
I also notice, not one other commenter has the courage to put their own name in front of their comment.
Elizabeth: when does life begin?
[watch the distraction-politics begin].
If life begins at conception, then not only is the mom’s rights in play, but the child’s rights are in play, as well.
Some pro-choicers agree with the scientific view that life begins at conception, but that the mom’s rights trumps the child’s rights.
Some pro-choicers agree with the scientific view that life begins at conception, but declare that the child only later in life reaches a status called “personhood,” and so does not warrant the set of rights we otherwise would grant to each human being.
A similar argument is “sentience;” yes, the child is a human, but is not yet self-aware, so we can kill it off if we hurry.
So, please enlighten us: are the rights of only one human in play, or the rights of two? / When does that blob of flesh become a human who deserves inalienable rights, as does the mother?
“lol…the “politicians, out of my vagina” chant cracked me up”
Me, too. It reminds me of “keep your rosaries off our ovaries”.
” “Amused” that women will die because of this amendment”
I am amused by your melodramatic comment. You do realize that abortion kills unborn girls every day, right?
“that has been written to remove women’s rights of privacy and freedom of religion from our TN Constitution”
What on Earth does religion have to do with this? There are atheists who are pro-life. There are pro-aborts who claim to be Christian.
It does not remove a woman’s right to privacy. It merely regulates a “procedure” that kills children and, frankly, should not even be legal in the first place.
“When laws are allowed that force one to not have an abortion, it opens the doors to laws that force one to have an abortion. ”
That is a bunch of bovine excrement (trying to watch my language here). If abortion is to be outlawed, it will be because we as a society once again recognize that the preborn child is a human being whose life is worthy of protection.
“I also notice, not one other commenter has the courage to put their own name in front of their comment. ”
It has nothing to do with courage. Some people prefer to keep their lives private and don’t want to put their names out on the internet for any weirdos to see. If I remember correctly, there have been 1 or 2 very unbalanced pro-aborts who visited this site in past years.
TheLastDemocrat,
Good questions. Let’s see if “Elizabeth Barger” will have courage to actually think about them and answer them.
“When laws are allowed that force one to not have an abortion, it opens the doors to laws that force one to have an abortion. ”
That makes about as much sense as saying that laws that force one to not commit rape open the doors to laws that force one to commit rape.
The whitepages show 68 listings for Elizabeth Bargers. Then of course many Elizabeths go by nicknames such as Liz or Beth. One site shows 33 nicknames for Elizabeth.
Have you ever aborted a child of yours, Elizabeth? Be courageous now.
So, how many Praxedes are there in the whitepages? Are you listed there? What is your name in the whitepages? And I have courageously CHOSEN to have 4 children. But that is my business and not a stranger’s, a politician’s, or anyone else’s business but mine. It would be rude of me to ask you about your personal life, and since you are so shy to write your name, I apologize for asking your name.
I understand, Lucy, about radicals invading your privacy so that you don’t want strangers invading your privacy [as Amendment #1 does]. Some pro choice folks can be pretty obnoxious too. But this seems like a group of citizens open to discussion, so, if it looked too dangerous, I would refrain from comment.
I did want to say that calling pro choice people pro aborts is snarky. Just saying. I am pro life and pro choice is in the tradition of American freedom that says that all citizens are free to choose their life ways.
Not all religions or cultures consider life begins at conception. Many people consider the egg and fetus as parts of a woman’s body. Those of us who consider consciousness to begin at conception, and those of us who consider consciousness to occur at first breath, also have differences with those who believe that life begins at the time the fetus can survive outside the womb, in a not quite finished pregnancy, and those who believe that a child is not a person until the age of 5 years.
If one’s faith believes that life begins at conception, then of course, abortion is not acceptable for them. If one’s faith believes that life begins at birth, then they will be strong in that faith and it is un-American to force them to act on another faith’s belief, whatever it may be.
There are political systems and governments that do force their citizens to have abortions. It is not ridiculous to say that it is dangerous to give politicians and government entities the power over your birth rights.
Actually, how we end abortions is to make sure that all our children are loved, fed, and educated with all the resources we have. We need to raise our young men and women to respect each other and understand their sexuality. If we stopped killing our children in wars we would have ample resources to make sure that all our people were valued and respected and able to add to all our lives with gladness and good health.
Nice to meet you all and have this conversation. Elizabeth is what most folks call me, and you are welcome to, also.
Elizabeth, I didn’t ask you how many children you chose to allow to live. I asked if you ever chose to have one killed.
It is unscientific to claim that life begins at any time other than conception. People who deny this are just like those who deny global warming or evolution. Elizabeth,you are just another ignorant, ideologically motivated science denier, no better than the fundamentalist Christians who deny evolution.
“The life cycle of mammals begins when a sperm enters an egg.”
Okada et al., A role for the elongator complex in zygotic paternal genome demethylation, NATURE 463:554 (Jan. 28, 2010)
*****
“Fertilization is the process by which male and female haploid gametes (sperm and egg) unite to produce a genetically distinct individual.”
Signorelli et al., Kinases, phosphatases and proteases during sperm capacitation, CELL TISSUE RES. 349(3):765 (Mar. 20, 2012)
*****
“The oviduct or Fallopian tube is the anatomical region where every new life begins in mammalian species. After a long journey, the spermatozoa meet the oocyte in the specific site of the oviduct named ampulla, and fertilization takes place.”
Coy et al., Roles of the oviduct in mammalian fertilization, REPRODUCTION 144(6):649 (Oct. 1, 2012) (emphasis added).
I don’t know if this is a conversation amongst peers or not. Some of the comments are just rude from people who are afraid of giving their names. I think that is bad manners.
Please pay attention: I would not have an abortion unless my life were in danger. My life has never been in danger from being pregnant.
Calling me names shows that you have not understood what I wrote. I understand the science of reproduction. It has nothing to do with belief or faith. Of course a fertilized egg is alive. The belief comes in about when the soul enters the body. There are great differences there.
Some of the comments above seem to show that you think the government should have control of your body and your faith. I disagree.
Some people don’t believe that personhood begins until a year after birth and that therefore the government should legalize infanticide. Dr. Peter Singer, a Princeton bioethicist, believes this, as does Dr. Micheal Tooley and a growing number of bioethicists. http://jme.bmj.com/content/early/2012/03/01/medethics-2011-100411.full This article in a bioethics journal claims that infants aren’t persons and that infanticide should be legalized. Who are you to force your belief that infants are persons on other people with different religious and philosophical beliefs?
Also, the government also controls your body already. If you try to commit suicide, you’ll be hospitalized until you’re deemed no longer a danger to yourself or to others. You can’t use illegal drugs. So really, unless you are opposed to that, I don’t see how you can honestly claim to be opposed to the government controlling your body. Also, it’s really not about controlling your body. The embryo or fetus is not a part of your body, and if you think that, you seriously need a biology lesson.
Abortion affects an entire family, not just the youngest member. I don’t use my name yet because some of my family members do not need to told by someone that “hey, so and so is posting about your dead grandchild/child/niece/cousin on the internet.” I can speak about my own experience without disrespecting their privacy.
But let me tackle this whopper of a misconception (no pun intended):
“Actually, how we end abortions is to make sure that all our children are loved, fed, and educated with all the resources we have. We need to raise our young men and women to respect each other and understand their sexuality. If we stopped killing our children in wars we would have ample resources to make sure that all our people were valued and respected and able to add to all our lives with gladness and good health.”
Wrong. If you read surveys and published accounts of why most women have abortions, you’ll find a lot of them happen for social reasons, because the father doesn’t want a child, or it would reveal an affair, or because the mother doesn’t want to get fat, or because they conceived a girl but would rather not raise a daughter and decide to get a late term abortion and try for a boy later… True, some women have abortions out of financial fears, but not all and not most. Planned Parenthood is getting a lot of money from our tax dollars, while military budgets get cut and cut and cut. So if you want to tell a blog full of pro-lifers how to end abortion, then STOP LYING TO YOURSELF ABOUT WHY WOMEN GET ABORTIONS.