Opponents to TN Amendment 1 on abortion air first ad

photo Abortion debate tile

NASHVILLE - The campaign to defeat the proposed Amendment 1 on abortion begins airing its first television ad in the Nashville market today.

Vote No on One Tennessee officials say it's only the "first step" in a statewide media strategy including television, radio and direct mail about what the group calls the "dangerous consequences" if Amendment 1 passes.

The ad offers viewers a heavy measure of you-can't-trust government to make decisions about abortion as Dr. Owen Phillips, an obstetrics and gynecology physician in Memphis, describes a female patient of hers. The woman had to decide between ending her pregnancy and receiving cancer treatment, the physician says.

"I had a patient who found out she was pregnant the same day she found out thajt her cancer was back," Phillips says in the 30-second spot. "She continued the pregnancy and fought the cancer. Her child lived, but she died.

"It was her decision and no one else's," Phillips continues. "No politician has the right to legislate these personal and private decisions, but that's what Amendment 1 would do. Amendment 1 is just government interference."

Amendment 1 seeks to overturn a 2000 Tennessee Supreme Court ruling which held the state constitution provides a greater right to privacy and thus to obtain an abortion than the U.S. Constitution.

It would make the state constitution silent on abortion and hand power over to Tennessee legislators to enact more laws in the area. The Tennessee Right to Life and other groups are pushing the amendment's passage and have their own campaign underway.

To watch the ad, visit: http://bit.ly/1pDVMr5

Upcoming Events