|
NRL News
Lt. Gov.
Amy Tuck: A Powerful Presence for Life in Mississippi In January 2008, the State of Mississippi, and for that fact, the entire United States, will lose one of the most dedicated pro-life lieutenant governors of all time. Amy Tuck, Mississippi’s lieutenant governor for the last eight years, is term-limited and cannot seek re-election. In Mississippi, the lieutenant governor is widely regarded as one of the most powerful elected official in the state. The lieutenant governor presides over the state Senate and is in charge of all committee appointments and bill referrals. Most bills are acted upon at the will and pleasure of the statewide elected lieutenant governor. (In Mississippi, the governor and lieutenant governor’s offices are separate and they do not run as a team in elections.) Lt. Gov. Tuck has used the power of this office repeatedly to advance pro-life laws and obtained advice from National Right to Life officials. During her eight years in office, over 20 pieces of pro-life legislation have been enacted, 6 in 2004 alone. Subsequently, the number of abortions performed in the state has decreased over 60% from all-time highs in the early 1990s. While various laws were enacted during her tenure, she also was instrumental in appointing officials who respect human life to committees, boards, and commissions. Upon creation of the Mississippi Commission on the Status of Women, Tuck made sure that all of her appointees to the commission were individuals that held a deep respect for the lives of unborn children. Tuck is quick to credit all of the success to the legal and political advice from officials of the National Right to Life state legislative team: “There was never a time that I did not consult with the team of experts that the National Right to Life folks have assembled for state leaders to access.” Tuck continued, “The good people of Mississippi are very pro-life and I wanted to do all that I could to advance the cause of life with the best legal expertise I could get in the country.” Tuck, who holds a law degree from Mississippi College law school, has been an articulate and passionate defender of human life for many years. First elected to the Mississippi State Senate in 1990, as a Democrat, Tuck then went on to run statewide and win as a pro-life Democrat for lieutenant governor in 1999. With the 2002 national election between pro-abortion Democrat Al Gore and pro-life Republican George W. Bush, Tuck could no longer consider herself a Democrat. “Primarily because of the abortion issue, I could not honestly call myself a Democrat anymore,” she said. By 2003 Amy Tuck had switched to the Republican Party and was re-elected to the lieutenant governor’s office with over 60% of the vote! During her eight years in office, Tuck shepherded the passage of many bills, some of which are:
• A resolution urging Congress to ban partial-birth
abortions (2001) While there were many laws that were enacted concerning the issue of abortion, other life issues were not neglected. Measures were put in place to prevent health care rationing, euthanasia, and assisted suicide. A conscience clause for health care workers who object to being involved in life-ending treatment of human beings was also enacted. “Just knowing that these laws are now in place has made my tenure as lieutenant governor so worthwhile,” Tuck said. “It has been a real honor to work with the wonderful state legislative team that NRLC has put together.” Tuck concluded, “All of us, the NRLC staff and my own, working long hours, many times under crushing time constraints, can know in our hearts that lives are being protected from the laws that we were able to enact in the last eight years.” |