The Tennessee Abortion Amendment, or Senate Joint Resolution 127, is on the November 4, 2014 statewide ballot. this measure asks voters whether there should be a ‘fundamental right’ to abortion. The proposed amendment would add a new section to Article 1 of the Tennessee Constitution which would read:
Nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion. The people retain the right through their elected state representatives and state senators to enact, amend, or repeal statutes regarding abortion, including, but not limited to, circumstances of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest or when necessary to save the life of the mother.
The proposed amendment aims to reverse a 2000 ruling (Planned Parenthood v. Sundquist) by the Tennessee Supreme Court that stated that the state constitution’s right to privacy afforded greater protections for abortion than the United States Constitution.
The measure states that abortion is not protected by the state constitution. Additionally, the measure would allow lawmakers to require a waiting period prior to an abortion, place greater restrictions on later-term abortions and draft rules on what doctors are required to tell women prior to an abortion.
Read the text of the amendment here.