Former state senator slammed for misleading public

Legislator turned lobbyist under fire over abortion issue

Email | Print By Ken Whitehouse

David Fowler

UPDATED at 11:42 a.m. with comments from David Fowler

Former State Senator David Fowler is the subject of harsh criticism this morning from five Tennessee organizations that accuse him of intentionally misleading the public on SJR 127, a resolution dealing with abortions.

Fowler, who retired from the State Senate during the last election cycle, is the president of the Family Action Council of Tennessee and is a lobbyist for the group's issues. The FAC is loosely aligned with the national organization Focus on the Family, which is headed by Dr. James Dobson.

The five organizations chastising Fowler are the Tennessee Women's Political Caucus, the League of Women Voters of Tennessee, the Nashville section of the National Council of Jewish Women, Planned Parenthood and the ACLU of Tennessee.

The groups accuse Fowler of misleading the public by arguing that a state law banning partial-birth abortion is unenforceable unless the state constitution is amended. Fowler himself was a sponsor of the state law at the heart of the issue that was passed in 1997.

The bill has previously failed to move in the State House, but Fowler is seeking a vote on the House floor to pull the bill out of a subcommittee. Such a move would require 66 of the 99 House members to support it.

SJR127 was passed by the State Senate earlier this year after several attempts to amend it to exempt the victims of rape and incest from its provisions were defeated.

"Just say NO is our message," according to Judy Poulson, President of the League of Women Voters of Tennessee. "The League has long opposed changing the state constitution on an issue-by-issue basis. Why would the right to privacy in Article VI be taken away from one group and one group only, namely pregnant women?"

Tennessee Women's Political Caucus spokeswoman Holly Spann said "the rhetoric is insulting to women. You don't have to amend the state constitution to pass meaningful legislation discouraging abortion, as the state legislature has demonstrated in the past."

Reached by NashvillePost.com, Fowler staunchly defended his organization and the information it is publishing.

Fowler said, "Nothing that has been said about SJR 127 or partial-birth abortion in Tennessee that is not accurate, I stand by it. There are several national pro-choice Web sites that say that Tennessee's 1997 law is unenforceable."

According to Fowler, those sites are operated by the Center fo Reproductive Rights and Pro-Choice America (formerly known as NARAL).

The heart of the issue for Fowler is federal law dealing with interstate commerce, to which he said that "Justice Clarence Thomas in the Supreme Court has said that the interstate commerce issue has not been decided."

But Hedy Weinberg, ACLU-TN Executive Director, points out that there is a federal law on the books that the Tennessee Attorney General says bans the procedure.

"It is unforgivable that the Family Action Council and Eagle Forum are attempting to deceive the public and intimidate legislators with false information," Weinberg said. "David Fowler again twists the truth when he says the Federal Ban only covers procedures involved in interstate commerce. I would like him to tell us which procedures would not involve interstate commerce. The Federal Ban prohibits these procedures from taking place in Tennessee."

"Why wasn't anyone ranting about partial-birth abortion when this unnecessary constitutional change was being debated for the last six or seven years?" asked Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Keri Adams. "Guess why there has been no legal challenge to the state statute on partial-birth abortions? No one does them. There's a federal ban. It's a non-issue, but it gets people all worked up anyway."