Could enough Tennesseans rise up to demand a Kansas-like referendum to reverse the Legislature’s banning of all abortions? Highly unlikely.
Tennessee voters cannot call a referendum or place an initiative on the ballot. The Tennessee Legislature could approve a vote on an amendment to the state Constitution, but only in a general election in which a governor is elected.
It would have to be approved in two consecutive legislative sessions, the first by majority votes. The second vote would require a two-thirds majority in each chamber.
If that nearly impossible hurdle were cleared on abortion – the GOP has supermajorities in both chambers – a split citizenry would then get to vote. A Vanderbilt University poll of 1,000 registered Tennessee voters, taken April 26-May 14, found that half of Tennessee voters consider themselves pro-life and nearly half, 48%, consider themselves pro-choice.
Nationwide, 50% of Americans did not want the court to overturn Roe before the Dobbs decision, a YouGov/The Economist poll showed. The same polling service found the same result after the decision was announced. Thirty-two percent were in favor of overturning Roe in the earlier survey compared with 37% in the later survey.