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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — After reluctantly agreeing to modify Tennessee’s strict abortion ban last year, the Republican-led Legislature is once again facing pressure to reconsider when doctors can legally offer the procedure to pregnant patients.
The move comes as confusion and fear continues among residents of many GOP-controlled states over how exemptions to abortion bans should be applied. While a handful of lawsuits have been filed in hopes of gaining clarity in state courts, others seek legislative changes.
However, it is still unknown whether state lawmakers will be receptive to any changes, particularly in a choice year in which many members will compete to keep their positions.
Across the United States, the total number of abortions performed increased slightly in the year since states began implementing bans, according to a report released late last year by the Planned Parenthood Society, which advocates for abortion access. The number of abortions has fallen to nearly zero in states with the strictest bans, but has risen elsewhere, especially in states close to those with the bans.
When asked earlier this year whether Tennessee’s abortion ban should be changed, Senate President Randy McNally, a Republican, said no. “I have a feeling that where we are is where we need to be to protect the lives of the unborn.”
Separately, the New Hampshire House of Representatives on Thursday rejected three abortion bills, refusing to further restrict or protect reproductive rights. The chamber is led by Republicans but closely divided.
To date, Tennessee Democratic members have been the loudest in calling for significant changes to the state’s abortion ban. But without the ability to include the issue in a state-level ballot initiative (an approach that has to date been successful elsewhere for reproductive rights advocates), Democrats face an uphill battle to convince their conservative colleagues to drastically change the abortion ban.
Proposals backed by Democrats range from enacting a “fundamental right to abortion” to defining abortion services as “reproductive rights.” health care,” and also enshrine the right to access contraceptives. Others would add rape and incest as legal exemptions to the state’s ban on abortion.
Currently, there are 14 states in the United States with strict abortion bans and almost all have some type of exemption. At least 11, including three states with the strictest bans, allow abortion due to fatal fetal abnormalities, and some do so when the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest.
So far, none of the Democratic-sponsored bills to add exemptions have made significant progress in Tennessee.
Meanwhile, Republicans have been much calmer when pressed about the state’s abortion ban. Last year, lawmakers introduced a very limited exemption bill. The proposal was significantly scaled back after legislative leaders received threats from anti-abortion groups that doing so would lead to political retaliation.
Lawmakers considered the change after coming under heavy criticism for enacting a ban that had no explicit exemptions. Like other states, Tennessee’s abortion ban only went into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade in 2022. It was originally passed in 2019 before many Republicans thought the right constitutional procedure would ever be revoked, and they overlooked the consequences. of how the law would be implemented.
Under the new statute, doctors now have a limited option to use their “reasonable medical” judgment to decide whether performing the procedure could save the pregnant patient’s life or prevent serious injury.
Since that change was implemented, a group of women has sued the state, arguing that the ban violates pregnant patients’ right to life guaranteed by the state constitution. They are asking a state court to clarify the circumstances that qualify patients to legally receive an abortion, which would include fatal diagnoses.
Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that the state has had some type of abortion ban since 1883 and responded that the state cannot be held responsible for doctors potentially “over-complying” out of fear. to possibly breaking the law.
“Defendants are not to blame, and cannot be sued, for the doctors’ ‘independent’ decision not to rely on the medical exception even when it applies,” the attorney general’s office wrote.
However, some Tennessee Republicans say more clarification is needed.
Republican Sen. Richard Briggs, who is a doctor, said Tennessee’s current statute still doesn’t adequately help women, patients and doctors. He supports legislation to include a list of diagnoses in which abortion could be allowed, but acknowledged that finalizing that list has required “a lot of back and forth” after working with the Tennessee Medical Association and the University of Tennessee Medical Center. Vanderbilt.
The exact details of that bill have not yet been filed, although Briggs said it has sponsors in both the Senate and House.
“There may be some politics that come into play,” he said. “Our Republican Senate seats are fairly safe in Tennessee, but we are concerned that they could be used in a Republican primary against some members and that could make someone reluctant to vote on them.”
Separately, some Republicans are working to make it harder for residents to request medical abortion pills or leave the state to have the procedure.
Republican Rep. Jason Zachary has introduced legislation that would make it illegal for a person to help a minor arrange an abortion out of state without the permission of her parent or guardian. Similar legislation has been enacted in Idaho, but its enforcement is temporarily blocked due to an ongoing lawsuit.
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