NASHVILLE-Voters will decide in 2014 whether the Tennessee Constitution protects abortion rights.
The Tennessee House on Friday approved a ballot referendum that was 10 years in the making. Abortion opponents who struggled to get the measure passed erupted in applause on the House floor and galleries after the vote.
The vote was 76-18 in favor of Senate Joint Resolution 127, which is intended to nullify a 2000 Tennessee Supreme Court ruling and give state lawmakers the ability to impose some restrictions on abortions now allowable under federal law.
During debate, Rep. Bill Dunn, R-Knoxville, denounced the 2000 court decision.
“Even though the word abortion is not in the constitution, [the court] found it in there after 200 years,” he said. “We’re putting the constitution back to where it was before the liberal Supreme Court found abortion in the constitution.”