Support SJR 127 to stop Partial Birth Abortion in Tennessee

If your representative says he or she cannot vote to bring SJR 127 to the House floor or to vote for the Resolution, here are some common arguments and responses they will give you. And here are the answers to those responses. If they send you one of these responses, then do not give up. Persevere. Let them know you will not be fooled. Send them another email with a response.

Response: Actually, House Rule 53 allows the entire House, by vote of 2/3 of its members to “recall” a bit from a committee and place it on the calendar for consideration by the entire House of Representatives. In addition, House Rule 74 allows for any rule to be suspended or modified by a vote of 2/3 of the members. The rule that requires bills to be approved by a committee before they can be put on the calendar for consideration by the entire House of Representatives can be “suspended.” The rules are suspended many times during the session for a variety of reasons. If recalling a bill from a committee or suspending the Rules were so “destructive” to good order and process in the House, then these rules would not exist. The fact is that sometimes the process does not work and some issues are so important that a small number of members should not prevent the entire body from considering something. That is why Rules 53 and 74 exist, which you have approved.

Argument: Voting to bring SJR 127 to the floor would violate/undermine the committee system. If we vote to do this, then every legislator will be wanting to bring his or her bill to the floor when a committee does not approve it.

Response: To prevent this from happening, the rules require that 2/3 of the members vote to allow a bill to come to the floor without first being approved by the committee system. Legislators know that getting 2/3 of the members to do this is hard and therefore the members will not be “overrun” by such motions. And besides, if 2/3 of the members want to hear every bill on the floor, then the supermajority should not be held captive by a small minority.

Reposnse: The Constitution you took an oath to uphold also provides a way to amend the constitution. SJR 127 is following the constituional process for allowing the Constitution to be changed. Unless you believe that abortion should be a right and it would be morally wrong to change the Constituion on this issue, there is no violation of your oath if you vote to follow the Constitution by voting for SJR 127.

The Constitution you took an oath to uphold also says that "all power is inherent in the people." Our constitution has been highjacked by proabortion forces on our Supreme Court. Please vote to allow me to exercise the power the constitution give me.

Argument: I would support SJR 127, but some Representatives/Republicans have made it a partisan issue in order to "score" points in the upcoming elections and they really don't care about life.

Response: Another person's motives are not my concern. My concern is where you stand, personally on SJR 127. By using "politics" as an excuse, it would seem that you have also allowed partisanship and politics to influence your decision. Please, be a statesperson and rise above petty politics and do the right thing. If you were faced with having to jump in front of a moving truck to save the lives of a hundreds of babies, would you stop to ask if the truck driver was just using the baby as a "lure" to get you to jump out in the road and if he said "yes," would you just let all the babies die? If your answer would be "no," then don't worry now what someone else's motive are concerning SJR 127 – just do the right thing.

If your Representative brings up objections to and arguments against the Resolution itself and therefore he or she cannot vote to bring the bill to the floor, check back here for additional responses to other frequently asked questions and arguments that are made against voting for the Resolution itself.

How to respond to legislator objections