Just outside the Planned Parenthood on Poplar Avenue, high school student Emily Kane stood with anti-abortion demonstrators holding Bible-verse-printed signs.
“Even if a woman accidentally gets pregnant,” she said. “I believe God has a plan for them—her and her baby.”
Kane’s barely five-feet tall. Her smile has one dimple and at first glance, many assume she is no older than 14, she said.
Having turned 18 just last week, she’s eager to vote in November’s elections. She doesn’t know who’s running for governor, but she said, while gesturing to the print on her hot-pink t-shirt, “I’m going to ‘Vote Yes on Amendment 1.’”
Kane’s parents “told (her) about the amendment, and how it will help restrict abortion,” she said.
Kane was one of many new voting-eligible students who not only attended Wednesday’s demonstration but also hope to tip the tide on Tennessee’s 14-year-old fight.
If passed “Amendment 1” would allow state legislators to regulate all abortions, even in pregnancies caused by rape or incest—and whether the mother’s life is in danger or not.
For Republican State Senator Brian Kelsey, this would help reduce the number of women from out of state seeking an abortion.
“Amendment 1 would end Tennessee being an abortion destination,” Kelsey said. “We have a lot of women who come to (Memphis) from Mississippi to get an abortion because our laws are more lax than other states.”
Back in 2000, the Supreme Court of Tennessee overturned laws that policed abortion. The court’s ruling determined the state’s constitution provided broader protections for the procedure than even the nation’s constitution.
Kelsey said the amendment would allow for “common sense” regulations to be passed by the state.
But some state legislators want to bring back laws overruled in 2000 and add some of the same restrictions that have closed vast swaths of women’s health clinics in Mississippi, Texas and Alabama, explained Steven Herskowitz, communications director for Vote No on Amendment 1 Tennessee.
“It is hard to entertain a hypothetical,” Herskowitz said. “But if (Amendment 1) passed they could pass some very burdensome regulations.”
Examples would be a 48-hour waiting period, like in Alabama, or a mandatory reading of a prolife-biased script, like in Texas, Herskowitz said.
“These laws could take access to safe medical care out of the hands of women all over the area,” he said.
Proposing an amendment to the Tennessee’s constitution is a complicated processes, but lawmakers navigated the thorns and now bring the finally decision to the voters. However, it is not a referendum.
In order for the amendment to pass it not only needs to get more “yes” than “no” votes, it also needs those “yes” votes to be a majority of those who voted in the governor’s race.
“If 9,000 people vote in the governor’s race on Nov. 4, then at least 4,501 people will need to vote ‘yes’ on the amendment for it to pass,” Herskowitz said. “Even if only 3,000 voted ‘no’ and 4,000 vote ‘yes’ the amendment would fail. It must be 50 percent plus one vote.”
Along with that hurdle, 71 percent of Tennesseans said they would not support an amendment that allows the legislator to regulate abortion, according to a poll conducted by Vanderbilt University.
Although that is good news according Herskowitz, his group still wants to get the word out.
“Everyday we make phone calls and try to make people aware,” he said. “When they understand the law they are usually against it.”
