Anti-Choice Tennessee Bill Remanded to State Finance Committee
A proposed constitutional amendment to the Tennessee state constitution was sent to the state House Budget Subcommittee yesterday instead of being scheduled for a floor vote in the House. According to the Associated Press, the issue is the estimated $20,000 cost of publishing a notice about the amendment in newspapers.
The resolution (see PDF) states: "nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion. The people retain the right through their elected state representatives and state senators to enact, amend, or repeal statutes regarding abortion, including, but not limited to, circumstances of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest or when necessary to save the life of the mother."
The resolution passed in the state Senate last month and passed in the state House Health and Human Resources Committee in a 20 to 7 vote Tuesday. According to the Associated Press, in order to go into law, the resolution must pass in the House this session, in the 2010 General Assembly, and must be approved by voters in the 2014 elections.
5/20/2013 Afghan Violence Against Women Law Blocked in Parliament - On Saturday, the Speaker of the Lower House of Afghan Parliament delayed a vote on the Elimination of Violence against Women law after two hours of vociferous debate between conservative religious and more liberal members of Parliament. . . .
5/20/2013 Walmart, American Retailers Refuse to Join Bangladesh Accord - Walmart, along with 13 other major North American companies, refused to sign a legally binding agreement to improve working conditions for overseas factory workers that manufacture their clothes after a garment factory collapsed in Bangladesh killing an estimated 1300 workers, the New York Times reports.
The agreement requires retailers pay $500,000 to improve worker safety measures over a five year period. . . .
