On Tennessee’s Capitol grounds, lawmakers are preparing to build a “Monument to Unborn Children.” It will stand alongside memorials to soldiers, suffragists, and Holocaust victims—tributes to lives marked by struggle, loss, and resilience. The new monument, by contrast, reflects a political move to honor potential life rather than protect existing ones. Meanwhile, across Tennessee, thousands of children go hungry, attend underfunded schools, and live without access to health care, with the monument serving as a distraction from the struggles and realities of many Tennesseans.
The monument, approved by a Republican-led legislature in 2018 and sponsored by Representative Jerry Sexton and Senator Steve Southerland, calls for a privately funded memorial to unborn children, including those lost to abortion. Sexton defended the proposal by comparing it to Tennessee’s Holocaust Memorial, saying both memorials are reminders of “atrocities” that should never “happen again.” Critics, including Planned Parenthood, condemned the proposal as a political move meant to stigmatize and shame women who seek abortions. For seven years, the plan stalled without donations—until this August, when a single $4,000 gift revived construction efforts.
Though framed as an act of compassion, the monument’s timing and placement expose a deeper contradiction in Tennessee’s politics. The monument reflects political performance rather than genuine public support, offering lawmakers a cheap, moral victory while the real work of supporting children through health care, education, and safety remains neglected.
The irony of Tennessee’s “Monument to Unborn Children” is most striking when measured against the state’s record of caring for its residents. Tennessee ranks 37th overall in child well-being, with roughly one in five children living below the federal poverty line as of 2023. The state remains one of only ten that has refused to expand Medicaid, forfeiting more than $2 billion in federal funding each year—money that could insure 340,000 low-income adults through TennCare. The Tennessee Justice Center describes the state as “winning the race to the bottom” in health outcomes: first in the nation for hospital closures per capita, among the bottom ten for maternal and infant health, and facing one of the steepest increases in uninsured residents nationwide. In a state so unwilling to fund care for its citizens, the decision to build a monument to the unborn feels less compassionate than performative.
While lawmakers honor unborn children, they fail to address the struggles of those living in Tennessee’s schools and communities. The state ranks 47th in per-pupil spending, leaving public schools burdened with overcrowded classrooms, outdated facilities, and chronic teacher shortages. It also ranks 45th in crime and corrections, a figure reflected in its high rates of violent death. Tennessee’s firearm death rate of 22 per 100,000 people is among the nation’s worst—more than double that of states like New York (4.7) and nearly six times higher than Massachusetts (3.7), according to 2023 CDC data. Yet, lawmakers who champion a monument to “unborn children” continue to reject the reforms that could protect those already here—by strengthening gun-safety laws and ensuring every child has access to a safe, well-funded education.
The “Monument to Unborn Children” exposes a deeper pattern of selective compassion in Tennessee’s politics, where lawmakers seem to show greater concern for the unborn than for those already living. There is no state-proposed memorial for the victims of the 2023 Covenant School shooting—only privately funded tributes—nor recognition for the countless children who continue to suffer from gun violence, hunger, and neglect. In a state that refuses to expand Medicaid and blocks meaningful gun reform, such gestures only underscore how its politics often value performance and optics over protection. If Tennessee truly values life, it must prove it beyond symbolic measures: by investing in schools, health care, and safety—not displays of symbolic virtue. Vanderbilt students, many of whom call Nashville home, should fight for policies that demonstrate real care over performative concern.
