Tenn. Republican lawmakers advance 6-week abortion ban
Amid nationwide unrest and a global pandemic that wrecked the state budget, Tennessee lawmakers wrapped up a legislative session early Friday by advancing an anti-abortion proposal that includes some of the strictest restrictions in the country.
The passage of the bill shocked Democratic lawmakers and reproductive rights activists who had been assured for weeks that the GOP-dominated Senate would not take up the measure.
Senate leaders had promised only to consider coronavirus-or budget-related proposals. However, just after midnight, the chamber passed the abortion bill backed by Republican Gov. Bill Lee as budget negotiations stalled.
“People are going to wake up tomorrow and we will have passed a bill that we said we weren’t going to take up,” said Democratic Sen. Jeff Yarbro of Nashville.
Under the bill, abortions would be banned once a fetal heartbeat is detected – about six weeks into pregnancy, before many women know they’re pregnant. Similar legislation has been enacted in other states, such as Mississippi and Georgia, but has been blocked by legal challenges.
Just hours after lawmakers adjourned Friday, an emergency lawsuit had already been filed seeking to block the implementation of the measure.
Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights are the plaintiffs.
The bill requires women seeking an abortion to undergo an ultrasound and have the doctor describe and display the image to them.
Also tucked into the 38-page bill was a requirement that doctors inform women that drug-induced abortions might be halted halfway. Medical groups said the claim isn’t backed up by science and there is little information about the reversal procedure’s safety.