The speakeasy-type abortion clinic I’ve previously blogged about as a harrowing possible scenario in South Dakota shouldn’t scare only South Dakotans. As progressive and rational as the citizens of Tennessee are renowned for being (ahem, Scopes trial), our government is also seeking to pass legislation that would erode women’s privacy and quite probably force some women into such dire straits. The offending bill is SJR127, and, procedural “WHEREAS” type stuff aside, it reads as follows: “Nothing in this constitution secures or protects the right to an abortion or requires the funding of an abortion.”

According to an alert published by the Tennessee ACLU, here’s why this is a much more dangerous bill than it appears on the surface:

The introduction of this amendment is the result of the ACLU/Planned Parenthood victory in the Tennessee Supreme Court. We successfully challenged several restrictive provisions in the Tennessee Abortion Statute. In September 2000, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that several provisions were unconstitutional and that the Tennessee Constitution afforded women a right to privacy regarding their right to seek an abortion. The decision is momentous because it reaffirms the right to privacy found in the Tennessee Constitution.

In short, the idea in South Dakota, Tennessee, and other states is to slowly introduce legislation that erodes women’s privacy so that when Alito and Roberts overturn Roe v. Wade, women in these states will have no rights to an abortion within their states. To pass these laws is effectively to hand state sovereignity on this issue to the federal government.

This matter is of very little consequence to the daughters of the sorts of privileged people who pass such legislation. Their rich white daddies will fly them secretly to the progressive state of their choosing for an abortion should one ever prove necessary. Meanwhile, the welfare mom raped on her way home from her second job will have no choice but to bear an unwanted child she can’t support or rely on an unsafe alternative for an abortion.

If you have an opinion on this issue, please consider contacting the relevant politicians. Tennesseans can find contact information pretty easily using the following links:

• Senators
• Districts by voting precinct (if you don’t know your district)