Tennessee Democrats Introduce Strategy For Abortion Access

By Sam Stockard, Tennessee Lookout

July 12, 2022

Calling Tennessee’s new abortion restrictions an “abomination,” House and Senate Democrats announced Tuesday they plan to try to codify Roe v. Wade and pass other measures in 2023 to allow access to the procedure.

“It is unconscionable that a group of politicians who mostly neglect families that look like mine now have the power to endanger women’s health and criminalize our doctors for offering appropriate lifesaving care,” said state Sen. London Lamar, a Memphis Democrat, in a Tuesday press conference. “I’m devastated, angry. But words fail to describe the pain and horror I’m feeling right now as I try to make sense of the other women in this state who are potentially going to die or lose their children, and I know firsthand what that pain truly feels like.”

Lamar, who lost a child in birth two years ago, argued that Tennessee’s “trigger law,” which will prohibit abortions by mid-August, will increase maternal and infant mortality rates. She pointed out Black women such as her already are 2.5 times more likely to die in childbirth than their white peers.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and sent the ability to determine abortion law back to the states, Democrats have been putting together plans to respond. They contend today’s young women have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers and that they are being treated as second-class citizens, losing the right to privacy and the ability to control their own bodies.

When the 113th General Assembly convenes in January, their first effort will be to try to codify Roe v. Wade, providing privacy and health protections previously guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution.

Democratic Sen. London Lamar, who lost a child in birth two years ago, argued Tennessee’s restrictive laws will increase maternal and infant mortality rates — particularly in Black women like her, who are already 2,5 times more likely to die in childbirth than white women.

If that fails, which is likely since Republicans hold a supermajority, the minority party intends to introduce legislation to change what Democrats say are “egregious” parts of state law. Those include:

• Setting a clear legal exception in abortion cases for the health and well-being of the mother. Under the law passed in 2021, physicians have an affirmative defense in situations when the mother’s life is in danger. They could be charged with a felony and serve up to 15 years if convicted of violating the abortion law.
• Establishing legal exceptions for victims of rape, incest and sex trafficking. Lamar called it an “abomination” for a woman or girl to be forced to carry the child of a rapist to term. And Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, pointed out that numerous girls between 10 and 14 have abortions each year. “That becomes a criminal offense in August. And one of our colleagues in the Legislature has referred to that as a red herring because it only affects 1% of abortions. For the little girls affected, it is 100% of their lives,” Yarbro said.
• Adding patient-doctor privacy protections for telehealth.
• Repealing criminal statutes targeting doctors who provide medically sound and appropriate care for their patients. Democrats said they are worried physicians will leave Tennessee out of fear of being prosecuted for performing an abortion to save a woman’s life.

“Tennessee’s ban is as extreme as it gets,” said Sen. Heidi Campbell, a Nashville Democrat running for the 5th Congressional District seat.

In addition to the legislative steps, the group of Democrats who spoke Tuesday said they will be working with nonprofit groups to provide information to women about abortion access and possibly helping pay for them to go to other states to have abortions, if necessary.

Yarbro, however, said he’s concerned the Legislature will try to outlaw those efforts, too, which would be an even bigger blow to privacy freedoms and interstate commerce.

Besides running into problems trying to pass these measures, Democrats are likely to face difficulty turning back Republican measures placing even further restrictions on abortion.

Tennessee Right to Life, which has been pushing anti-abortion legislation in the state for decades, supported a bill this year requiring a physician to be present to prescribe the abortion pill and dispense it. More than likely, legislation could be sponsored to prohibit women from going to other states and having abortion pills mailed to their homes in Tennessee.

The organization also raised concerns about companies that subsidize out-of-state travel for employees to receive abortions.

Voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2014 giving the Legislature the authority to regulate abortion. Since then, it passed several restrictions on abortion access, including the six-week ban now in effect and the “trigger law,” which criminalizes abortion services.

Republican lawmakers contend the state’s voters support the ban on abortions. Democrats, in contrast, say 80% of Tennesseans believe access to abortion in some or all cases should be allowed.

Lt. Gov. Randy McNally is adamant, though, that the new laws will remain in place.

“The voters of this state and their General Assembly have affirmed time and time again that Tennessee is a pro-life state,” McNally said in a Tuesday statement. “The Supreme Court has given states the ability to determine their own laws on abortion. Those decisions have already been made in Tennessee. Through the ‘heartbeat bill,’ the ‘trigger law’ and a constitutional amendment, the state and its voters have made their views known. Abortion on demand is over in Tennessee and there will be no return. Period.”

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