House passes bill targeting those who aid minors in seeking abortions
Tennessee House Republicans on Tuesday voted to criminalize adults who intentionally recruit or transport a minor for an illegal abortion without parental consent.
The legislation, HB 1895/SB 1971, targets adults who “recruits, harbors or transports” a pregnant minor within the state for the purposes of receiving a criminal abortion, defined by Tennessee’s near-total abortion ban, or for getting abortion medication.
Though the legislation doesn’t explicitly refer to out-of-state abortions, due to Tennessee’s near-total abortion ban transporting a minor to receive the procedure would almost certainly involved traveling out of state. A handful of other states have established “abortion trafficking” laws, and a similar measure has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge in Idaho pending the outcome of an ongoing lawsuit.
House sponsor Rep. Jason Zachary, R-knoxville, has argued in committee that his bill doesn’t say anything about out-of-state travel and doesn’t explicitly
bar anyone from traveling to another state, though Democrats have pointed out that an out-of-state abortion would have to occur for the proposed crime to apply.
Though Zachary initially sought to establish the criminal charge as a Class
C felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison, Zachary moved to conform with the Senate version of the bill on Tuesday. Once law, the measure would establish a Class A misdemeanor punishable by less than a year in prison.
Though the House conformed with the Senate version, it also adopted a minor amendment, meaning the bill must now go back to the Senate before it can go to Gov. Bill Lee’s desk.
Rep. Aftyn Behn, D-nashville, and Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-knoxville, criticized the bill, raising concerns that some pregnant minors might not be able to confide in a trusted parent. Johnson attempted to amend the bill to carve out a legal abortion exception for minors under the age of 13, arguing any minor 12 or under who becomes pregnant must be pregnant as the result of rape as they were legally unable to consent.
“Tennessee families need real support, not legislative grandstanding that endangers our kids,” Behn said.
Behn was censured by Republicans for calling Zachary “smug” after he laughed as she discussed her proposed amendments.
The censure caused Behn to lose her remaining speaking time, and marked the fourth time Republicans censured a Democrat during the lengthy Tuesday afternoon session.
“We’re not litigating abortion, we’ve already done that,” Zachary said. “That’s already settled in this body. This is about parental rights.”