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The Tennessee Conservative Staff –
A monument honoring unborn children is now moving forward on the grounds of the Tennessee Capitol, more than seven years after it was approved by state legislators.
The measure, sponsored by Representative Jerry Sexton (R-Bean Station) and Steve Southerland (R-Morristown), was approved in 2018, allowing the Tennessee Monument to Unborn Children to be built through private funding.
The first private donation of $4000 was recently approved by the State Building Commission.
According to Southerland at the time, the idea came from “ladies that come that have had miscarriages and abortions” who wanted a “place of solitude placed on the Capitol campus where they may have a private moment.”
Democrats argued that there was already a memorial at Centennial Park that honored children who had died.
After seven years of no funding, the $4000 donation received in August will allow the state architect to begin the initial design and planning stage.
Other states have followed Tennessee’s plans to create such a memorial.
Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee approved a “monument to the unborn” in 2023. That memorial will be located on the grounds of the Arkansas Capitol building.
Texas also recently approved the creation of the “Texas Life Monument,” a six-foot bronze sculpture of a woman and an unborn child, to be built near the Capitol.
Sources:
https://www.wkrn.com/news/tennessee-politics/monument-unborn-children-capitol-grounds
