Norris says abortion amendment fell victim to partisanship

Tuesday, March 16, 2004
BILL HILES for the Dyersburg State Gazette

A supporter of a constitutional amendment on abortion whose sponsor withdrew it Thursday from the state Senate floor said Thursday night the proposal fell victim to partisanship. "This was not unexpected, but it is disappointing nonetheless," Sen. Mark Norris said by phone from his home in Collierville. "The amendment from Sen. Charlotte Burks (D-Monterrey) was a killer amendment and that's what it was designed to do."

Sen. David Fowler, R-Signal Mountain, who sponsored the constitutional amendment resolution, sent it back to committee Thursday after his colleagues added wording that he found unpalatable. He said the changes might allow a father who raped his daughter to have a say in whether she could have an abortion.

"That will be the end for this session," said Fowler.

He said afterward that even if his colleagues want him to bring it back to the floor, there probably isn't enough time to move it through the House before lawmakers end their work this spring.

"Everybody made their bed and now they'll have to sleep on it," Fowler said.

Voters must approve constitutional amendments, and Fowler had hoped to get it on the 2006 ballot. Before that, his resolution would have to be approved by a simple majority in the House and Senate this year, then by two-thirds of the members of the next General Assembly. If Fowler has to start over next year, the earliest the amendment could be before voters is 2010.

Fowler originally proposed an amendment that said "nothing in this (Tennessee) Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or the funding thereof."

Fowler and other abortion opponents were responding to a 2000 state Supreme Court ruling that the Tennessee Constitution offers broader rights to privacy and abortion than the U.S. Constitution.

The court struck down a waiting period for women seeking abortions and other restrictions lawmakers had enacted.

Many of Fowler's colleagues say they also oppose abortions but want to ensure protections for women with life-threatening conditions and victims of rape and incest. Fowler said he was afraid of how justices would interpret such exceptions.

So Burks proposed a change to Fowler's legislation that she said she believed would address those concerns. In essence, it said that the government could not interfere with women in those situations, and it also outright prohibited "partial-birth" abortions.

Norris, a Republican, said he viewed the language about partial-birth abortions was designed to torpedo the amendment proposal.

"The statement about banning partial-birth abortions was a poison pill," he said. "It would have invalidated the entire amendment because partial-birth abortions already are banned by federal law and would likely have caused our constitutional amendment to be declared unconstitutional."

Other senators said the prohibition on partial-birth abortions could violate the U.S. Constitution and leave a pregnant woman whose life was in danger without an option.

Fowler's biggest problem with her proposal was the part that said "The government shall not interfere with the decision of the family of a child rape victim to terminate that pregnancy."

Fowler said that would have blocked a state law that allows juvenile incest victims to get abortions without parental consent.

Despite Fowler's opposition, Burks' version was approved 18-15 and he ended the debate.

Fowler said pro-abortion senators manipulated Burks, who isn't well-versed in legislative maneuvering. "They used her and she allowed herself to be used," Fowler said.

Norris said he would like to think well of Burks, who he said in the past has been a foe of abortion. "I'd like to think the best of her and that she was manipulated,' he said. "But this was very partisan.

"Some Democrats are holding my bill giving senior citizens a homestead exemption hostage (in committee) over this," Norris added. "If that's not partisan and cynical, I don't know what is."

Norris represents the 32nd Senate district, including Dyer, Lauderdale, Tipton and part of Shelby counties.