Unlike many to the right of him in the state legislature, Republican state Rep. Greg Vital is a relative moderate on some issues amid the super-red GOP supermajority.
Vital, for example, does not wholly oppose exceptions for rape and incest within Tennessee’s abortion law, which only allows a woman to end her pregnancy under a vague exemption for medical emergencies.
In an interview with the Chattanooga Times Free Press editorial board, Vital, the incumbent for state House District 29, said this about those wanting additional and more specific exceptions: “I feel their frustration with their personal rights, that they feel are being infringed. Not that they want an abortion. They would like that flexibility if they had an emergency, dealing with rape or incest or their life.
“I’m open to hearing how we might address that without compromising our respect for life and as a society, but I have a personal conviction. And that’s I support life from conception to the grave, from birth to the grave.”
While the Chattanooga Times respects that Vital is willing to listen to constituent views that oppose his, there are some issues where being open to a conversation falls far short of what’s just.