HB 883 / SB 745

This bill will amend our current abortion laws in Tennessee by allowing a subjective standard for physicians to potentially and willfully permit abortion for a patient in bad faith. This is unacceptable.

Further, the bill would allow a physician to perform an abortion in order to “prevent a (potential) medical emergency,” again a very subjective standard. Meaning, that an actual medical emergency is not necessary to allow a physician or a mother to choose abortion.

And lastly, per many highly respected pro-life physicians, there is NEVER a medical reason to perform an abortion in the 2nd or 3rd trimester of pregnancy. Never. An early, or induced delivery, yes. An abortion? No.

This bill is a monumental step backward in right-to-life efforts and an offense to the life now already protected by the state’s trigger law.

TN Right to Life initially opposed this bill and publicly stated that they would not support any alterations to the trigger law that was already in place. However, through pressure and the lobbying efforts of the medical community, compromises were made. This was a very unfortunate development in our opinion.

Interestingly, there seemed to be nothing wrong with the current trigger law and pro-life supporters deemed the law to be good and necessary. Yet, the moment that Roe v Wade was overturned by the US Supreme Court, the trigger law was all of a sudden an issue because it put physicians in danger of losing their medical license due to the possibility of performing a “medically necessary” abortion.