David Fowler, president of Family Action of Tennessee, and Bobbie Patray, president of Tennessee Eagle Forum, announced the launching of a new, state-wide effort to assist in the passage of SJR127.

“This is an exciting grassroots effort to let the people of Tennessee know that there is no law against partial birth abortion in their state and that because of a decision by our state Supreme Court in 2000, the Attorney General has now said that a law making it illegal would be 'constitutionally suspect.' That our Court would interpret our state's constitution in such a way as make a ban on even partial birth constitutionally suspect is an affront to the people of Tennessee," said Mr. Fowler, who passed SJR 127 three times while serving in the state Senate, only to see it die in a House Subcommittee, as has happened again this year.

Mrs. Patray said that the newly launched website, www.LifePetition.org "will be a great 'one stop' resource for Tennesseans to find out all they need to know about the Supreme Court's decision, what SJR 127 does, and how six people on a state House Subcommittee have kept six million Tennesseans from having a say on the issue of abortion."

Mr. Fowler noted that the video, "Six Against Six Million," that was released and that can be found at http://www.lifepetition.org/ www.LifePetition.org will "literally 'show' people the truth about the law on partial birth abortion in Tennessee and how just six Representatives, handpicked by Speaker Naifeh, are keeping the entire House of Representatives from voting on SJR 127."

"We hope that the people of this state will rise up, email their state Representatives on this issue and sign the petition that is on the website," said Mrs. Patray, a 22 year veteran lobbyist for Eagle Forum. "It is just not right that our state Supreme Court made our state Constitution 'take sides' on the issue of abortion and told our citizens that they can no longer have any input into our state's laws."

SJR 127 simply makes our state Constitution neutral again on the issue of abortion, as was the case for the 130 years prior to the Court's decision in 2000," Mr. Fowler said. "Hopefully the website will allow Tennesseans a way to cut through the partisan rhetoric and the misrepresentations by pro-abortion radicals."

"This has truly been an incredible grassroots undertaking, Mrs. Patray said, noting that the videos were produced by professionals who volunteered their creativity and resources.

National organizations have also become aware of this issue and are notifying their constituents in Tennessee about this effort.

"We still believe that if enough people want to make sure partial birth abortion is banned in Tennessee they can, by their calls and emails influence the opinion of their Representative," Mr. Fowler said.