Tennessee House votes to create 'monument to unborn children' at State Capitol

[GMDino]

I don't have a problem at its most basic point.  I also do not see it as "shaming" anyone who had an abortion.  I realize it was more than likely an awful decision that the woman has to live with her entire life and may not want reminded also.  But in principle a monument to the unborn does not bother me personally.

I do not know the legality of it being on public ground, private funds paying for it, etc.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/latest-news/article209437324.html

Quote:The nation's ongoing turmoil over controversial monuments took a new turn this week, when the Tennessee House passed a bill calling for an official state monument to unborn children at the state capitol.


If passed by the Senate and signed into law, the Tennessee Monument to Unborn Children would be paid for with private donations, and "would be dedicated to children who were not born due to miscarriage or abortion," backers have told media outlets.

The bill does not say where the monument would be installed on the state capitol campus in Nashville or what it would look like.

Planned Parenthood is among a growing number of groups that have voiced opposition to the monument, claiming it is intended to shame women who choose to abort a child.
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The House passed it by a vote of 63-15 this week, following a brief debate that got so heated that Speaker Beth Harwell had to demand order, reports CBS News.

The bill was sponsored by Rep. Jerry Sexton, a Republican from Bean Station, and is sponsored in the Senate by Republican Steve Southerland of Morristown. Both men were previously involved in an unsuccessfull effort to make the Bible the official state book, reported the Nashville Tennessean. Gov. Bill Haslam vetoed that legislation in 2016 and the legislature tried unsuccessfully to override the veto, the Tennessean reported.

Democrats from Nashville demanded to know why there was a need for such a monument because there is a memorial for children who have died at Nashville's Centennial Park, reported CBS.

Sexton told TV station WSMV the statue is different because it would recognize children who were never born due to miscarriage or abortion.

“We have the (state) monument to slavery and the holocaust,” Sexton was quoted telling the station. “We don’t want these atrocities to ever happen again, so this it put in reference to those two monuments.”

Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood told TV station WSMV it will continue to fight the legislation, believing the monument's purpose is "to shame women who have had abortions.” 

Planned Parenthood of Middle and East Tennessee told the Charlotte Observer it has also taken a stand against the proposal, but is being cautious not to suggest the state would be wrong in honoring children who died as a result of a miscarriage.

"At its core, the purpose of this monument is to further stigmatize abortion," said Tereva Parham, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Middle and East Tennessee.

"Our initial reaction to this proposal is that it's another form of political posturing to further create a hostile environment toward reproductive health."

The memorial could be a first in the nation for a state capitol but is not without precedent in Tennessee.

There is currently a National Memorial for the Unborn located in Chattanooga. The 50-foot granite "Wall of Names" holds small brass plates with words of remembrance from individuals and families all over the country "seeking post-abortion healing," says a web page for the national monument.

The monument sits on the former property of the Chattanooga Women's Clinic and is "dedicated to healing generations of pain associated with the loss of aborted and miscarried children," according to the monument's website.