Tennessean editorial:Aim is to make constitution neutral on abortion

Should abortion facilities in Tennessee be licensed and regulated by the state Department of Health? Should women considering abortion be provided informed consent and basic information regarding the gestational age, characteristics and development of their unborn sons and daughters? Should state tax dollars be used for abortion? Is parental involvement appropriate before a minor daughter undergoes an abortion?

Until 2000, questions such as these were debated and decided by the people of Tennessee as represented by our elected state legislators. Then, in a radical 4-1 ruling by the Tennessee Supreme Court in Planned Parenthood vs. Sundquist, authority regarding the practice of abortion in Tennessee became the arbitrary domain of five un-elected judges. At the time, dissenting Justice William Barker reacted strongly to the ruling, saying, "The effect of the court's holding today is to remove from the people all power, except by constitutional amendment, to enact reasonable regulations of abortion.''

Barker further stated, "With its decision today, the Court has elevated one extreme of this debate to a constitutional level and has made any meaningful compromise on this issue all but impossible.''

None of the policies challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood prevents a woman or girl from obtaining an abortion. In reality, many such policies provide minimal safeguards for abortion-vulnerable women who are otherwise left at the will of practitioners who stand to profit from the woman's personal crisis and circumstances.

Voters should decide

In Tennessee, such common-sense safeguards have consistently enjoyed broad bipartisan support in the legislature and in the public at large.

So then, after more than a decade in which abortion has gone largely unregulated in our state, final legislative passage of Senate Joint Resolution 127 will give Tennesseans the opportunity to voice their support or opposition to the 2000 ruling. Tennessee voters will finally judge for themselves whether four members of the Tennessee Supreme Court were correct when they took upon themselves the question of abortion regulation in Tennessee.

To be clear, unlike measures in other states, SJR 127 does not seek to ban or criminalize abortion. It simply nullifies the court's 2000 ruling and makes the Tennessee Constitution abortion-neutral again, just as it was for 200 years before the court exercised its power grab on public policy relating to abortion.

In itself, approval of SJR 127 in 2014 will not re-enact any of the stricken state laws. But it will restore the ability of Tennesseans and our elected officials to have a voice again in one of the most important matters of our time. And perhaps it may restore the confidence of many Tennesseans who fear that our judges and courts have forgotten that the Constitution belongs, first and foremost, to the people, in whom all power is inherent.

Regardless of your views on abortion, SJR 127 allows each of us to have our say. Let the people vote!

Karen Brukardt is a retired registered nurse and legislative liaison for Tennessee Right to Life.