On Thursday, legislators in the Tennessee House voted for an action that was a ringing statement in the face of pro-abortion forces: creating a monument for babies murdered by abortions.
As LifeNews reports, state House Bill 2381, the “Tennessee Monument to Unborn Children,” stipulates that the monument would be situated on the Capitol grounds. No tax dollars would be used to fund the monument.
As The Tennessee Star reported, State Rep. Bill Dunn, one of the sponsors of the bill, pointed out in March that the new monument was singularly appropriate, as its site would be next to monuments devoted to victims of slavery and the Holocaust. He said, “Both of these monuments that are already here recognize that atrocities occurred because human beings were treated as less than human. In both cases, the vulnerable and defenseless were subjected to the will of the powerful. The taking of the life of a baby in the womb is related to this brand of inhumanity.”
On Thursday, the bill passed the House in a 63-15 vote. The bill now goes to the state Senate.
Dunn noted that the monument would also memorialize other victims of abortion, adding, “While the baby can be seen as the obvious victim, the women coerced into abortion, the fathers who can’t protect their unborn child, the brothers and sisters who lose a sibling, and society as a whole who becomes coarsened because life is cheapened.”
Myra Simons, who had an abortion as a young woman but supports the monument, echoed:
Establishing a memorial for the victims of abortion would be key to starting the healing process for many, many men and women. Just the recognition that they are valued will go a long way in helping these hurting men and women to know we understand what they have gone through and for them to know that there are people who do indeed care. And also to remember the babies whose lives are forever gone because of their mother’s one misguided decision on that one ill-fated day. Establishing this memorial is just the right thing to do.