Planned Parenthood of Middle and East Tennessee (PPMET) recognizes University School of Nashville counselor and teacher Anita Schmid and the Education Department of Nashville CARES as the 2008 Family Life Educators of the year in recognition of outstanding family life and human sexuality education.

The awards will be presented at PPMET's "Gala in the Garden" at Cheekwood Botanical Garden in Nashville tonight. The featured speaker will be Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. Ms. Richards is the former deputy chief of staff for Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and daughter of former Texas Governor Ann Richards.

More details in the press releases after the jump...

Egalia (the real one): "Apparently, there are no women in charge of women's health or reproductive services." Go read about the latest idiocy she's referring to.

As you are probably aware, SJR 127, which calls for a Tennessee constitutional amendment restricting abortion rights, passed overwhelmingly in the Tennessee Senate last month and has moved on to the House. (Nine Senators voted against it, including U.S. Senate candidate Rosalind Kurita.)

The local paper had yet another point-counterpoint editorial feature about it yesterday. As the Mrs. noted, the anti-choice position was presented by a man, who is also the president of state's biggest anti-choice organization. The pro-choice point of view was, of course, presented by a woman. Odd how it always seems to work out that way, huh?

Anyway, the anti-choice advocate reiterates that the amendment is not meant to restrict abortion rights (yeah, right), but rather to prevent "activist judges" from making the decision and instead let the people decide the issue.

Actually, that's a great idea. Let's let the people decide. Specifically, let's "let" women decide for themselves, and keep the courts and the legislature out of it. What is it with these nanny government Republicans that makes that such a difficult concept to comprehend?

As I posted the other day, TN's SJR127 is a bill aimed at changing the state's constitution in order to ban abortions.  The second reading took place Monday evening.  The third reading will take place tomorrow.  Should this final reading pass, it will then go to the House.

What surprised me, and has me deeply saddened, is this post in which Eaglia points to and highlights a commenter:

Yesterday, MzNicky wrote in the comments that when she called her state senator about SJR 127 - the effort to eliminate abortion rights in Tennessee - she was told that she was the first and only one of the senator's constituents to voice an opinion on the subject.

I know we are all busy, but to what end will we allow the state of Tennessee to take away our sexual autonomy?  As several of the big-boy bloggers have pointed out, laws like this will have a severe impact on the men as well.  Just think about it, for a sec, guys.  Think about paying child support for the next 18 years, just for a night in the sack. 

It takes less than 5 minutes to make a phone call, and even less time to send an email.  It's time for all Tennesseans to stand up and do what's right.  Tennesse women are not brood mares, they are human beings entitled to independence, and our legislature must be told to stop this foolishness. 

In order for Tennessee to ban abortion, they have to amend the state constitution.  To Tennesseans' familiar with the fight, SJR127 (pdf) is back onthe table. 

According to an alert from ACLU-TN, I received Friday (but was blocked by the damn spam filter), which states, in part:

SJR127, the dangerous constitutional amendment which would amend the
        Tennessee Constitution and remove the right to abortion, is scheduled for its second reading on the Senate Floor on Monday night, March 6. Supporters
of the constitutional amendment hope for the third and final reading of SJR127 on Thursday. March 9. It is vital that pro-choice and pro-privacy folks begin calling their elected officials now and tell them to vote against SJR127.

This lengthy alert includes lots of information that we urge you to share with your friends and family and to use as you urge your state senator and house representative to vote NO on SJR127. Contact information for your state senator and house representative can be found at www.congress.org by entering your zip code and clicking the "state" option.

On Tuesday, the Massachusetts pharmacy board ordered Wal-Mart to stock emergency contraception pills at all its stores in Massachusetts.  Massachusetts is the second state to require the world's largest retailer to carry the morning after pill.

The unanimous decision by the pharmacy board came two weeks after three women, backed by abortion rights groups, sued Wal-Mart for failing to carry the drug in any of its 44 Wal-Marts and four Sam's Club stores in Massachusetts.  The women had argued that state policy required pharmacies to carry all "commonly prescribed medicines."

For those of you who may not be familiar with the morning-after pill, it provides a high dose of hormones that, if taken up to five days after sex, can prevent pregnancy.  Many right-to-lifers believe that this emergency contraception is a form of abortion since it blocks the fertilized egg from being implanted on the uterine wall. 

I'm interested in knowing what you think.  Is the morning-after pill a means of abortion, or should it be viewed as simply another form of birth control? 

If you're interested in reading more about the Wal-Mart story, click here.