By Ian Round, Daily Memphian Updated: March 20, 2023 7:52 PM CT | Published: March 20, 2023 7:52 PM CT
The Tennessee House of Representatives on Monday, March 20, passed a bill that allows abortion in certain circumstances to save the life of the patient. The amended bill is narrower in scope than the original version, which specified far more medical conditions that would qualify a patient to have an abortion. The only health conditions the amended bill mentions are ectopic and molar pregnancies. It does not mention preeclampsia, for example, and there are no exceptions for rape or incest. It requires quarterly reports by the Tennessee Department of Health.
Opponents said current law requires doctors to make legal — rather than medical — decisions, asking how close to death a patient must be for an abortion to be warranted
Abortions are allowed, the bill states, if “the physician determined, using reasonable medical judgment, based upon the facts known to the physician at the time, that the abortion was necessary to prevent the death of the pregnant woman or to prevent serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman.”
The term “reasonable,” opponents say, does not protect doctors from prosecution as much as the original term, “good faith.”
State Rep. Esther Helton-Haynes (R-East Ridge), the bill’s sponsor, supported the original version, but said the weakened version still succeeded in ending the affirmative defense provision, which only allows doctors to defend themselves after being charged with the Class C felony of criminal abortion.
“When I committed to carrying this legislation, I was determined to make sure the affirmative defense was removed, so that doctors can protect the lives of mothers and babies, and we were able to accomplish that with this amendment,” she said.
State Rep. Andrew Farmer (R-Sevierville) said this is “The most pro-life piece of legislation I’ve had the opportunity to vote on.”
The bill passed by an 83-11 vote, with two members abstaining. Democrats said the bill did not go nearly far enough, but some voted for it because they wanted to amend Tennessee’s total abortion ban in any way possible. State Rep. G.A. Hardaway (D-Memphis) said he voted for the bill, “Not because I support it, but because it’s better than nothing.”
State Reps. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) and John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville) offered amendments that would expand the right to abortion to patients with more specified health conditions and to child victims of rape and incest, reinstate the right to abortion before viability, and decrease the penalty from a Class C felony to a Class A misdemeanor.
“It’s very concerning to me … that we are forcing birth on young girls,” Johnson said. “Because of there being no exception, especially in cases of rape and incest, these girls underage should be allowed to not be reminded daily about what happened to them — some of them not even really understanding what happened to them.”
Johnson cited wide public support for legal abortion in some circumstances. Referring to Tennessee Right to Life, which lobbied heavily to minimize any exceptions, Johnson asked, “Why are we answering to a lobbyist instead of our constituents?” One of Johnson’s amendments was exactly the same as a version of the bill which the House Population Health Subcommittee passed by a nearly unanimous vote on Feb. 14. Each of their amendments failed on partisan votes.
State Reps. Patsy Hazlewood (R-Signal Mountain) and Mark Cochran (R-Englewood) objected to allowing abortion for victims of rape and incest under 18 years old because the amendment allowed the procedure up to 22 weeks. Rep. Mary Littleton (R-Dickson) objected to the version which passed Feb. 14 because it used the “good faith” standard rather than the “reasonable” standard.
State Rep. Ryan Williams (R-Cookeville) said reducing the penalty from a felony to a misdemeanor “minimizes the child who lost its life.”
The bill is scheduled for a hearing in the state legislature’s Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, March 21.