Fromt the Tennessee Senate Democratic Caucus:

Five Senate Republicans -- led by Republican Caucus Chair Senator Diane Black -- have professed public support for keeping abortions safe and legal in cases of rape, incest, and threats to the lives of pregnant women but have voted in the Tennessee Senate in support of a complete ban on abortion.

They can't seem to decide who to pander to today -- right wing extremists or the 70% of Tennesseeans who think abortion should be legal, safe, and rare.

Read the full press release after the jump...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JANUARY 22, 2008

SENATE REPUBLICANS EXPRESS SUPPORT FOR ABORTION PROTECTIONS

BUT FIVE SAY ONE THING, DO ANOTHER

NASHVILLE -- Five Senate Republicans -- led by Republican Caucus Chair Senator Diane Black --  have professed public support for keeping abortions safe and legal in cases of rape, incest, and threats to the lives of pregnant women but have voted in the Tennessee Senate in support of a complete ban on abortion.

In response to a 2002 Project Vote Smart issue survey [1], Black, then a member of the state House, answered that she believes "Abortions should be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape" and "Abortions should be legal when the life of the woman is endangered."

However, on January 8, 2008, Black introduced to the Senate Judiciary Committee Senate Joint Resolution 127 [2], which would insert restrictive language on abortion into the Tennessee Constitution. She then voted against a Democratic-sponsored amendment [3] that would protect abortions in the very same instances for which she earlier claimed support.

When SJR127 came before the 104th General Assembly, Black voted against the very same amendment [4] on March 9, 2006.

"This is the sort of Washington-style, say-one-thing-and-do-another political manipulation that makes voters distrust their elected officials," Senate Democratic Caucus Chairman Senator Joe Haynes, D-Goodlettsville, said. "Actions speak louder than words, and by their actions, Black and her Republican colleagues have shown that they are extremists on this subject and completely out of touch with the opinions of the majority of Tennesseans."

Black has been joined in her contradictory actions by Sens. Mae Beavers, Rusty Crowe, Randy McNally, and Jim Tracy.

Beavers told Project Vote Smart [5] in 2006 that she supported allowing abortions in cases "when the life of the woman is endangered"; however, she voted against the amendments protecting that exception in 2006 and 2008. Crowe told Project Vote Smart [6] in 2002 that he supported all three exceptions, but he voted against the 2006 amendment. McNally [7] and Tracy [8] did the same.

In 2006, Sen. Jack Johnson, R-Brentwood, claimed to support an exception [9] in cases of life-threatening pregnancies. He has yet to have an opportunity to vote his conscience.

"Frankly, these Republicans are playing political games with women's lives," Haynes said. "Their actions call their sincerity on this subject into question. Will they tell Tennesseans what they truly believe or are they simply pulling election-year stunts?"

However, Haynes asserted, the Republicans are unwilling to publicly admit they seek an outright ban on abortion because they know their view is out of line with the mainstream of public opinion.

"If they believe abortion should be illegal in all cases, they believe that rapists have the right to choose the mothers of their children," he said. "They believe that fathers that rape their daughters have the right to force those daughters to bear their grandchildren. And they believe that the government has the right to impose a death sentence on any woman whose pregnancy goes tragically wrong.

"Tennesseans flatly reject those beliefs."

In support of this assertion, Haynes cited the Middle Tennessee State University Fall 2007 Poll [10], which found that 71 percent of Tennesseans believe that abortion should be legal in at least "certain circumstances."