Chattanooga Times Free Press

East Ridge state representa­tive holds abortion bill for 3 weeks

- BY SAM STOCKARD

A piece of legislatio­n designed to stop the “criminaliz­ation” of doctors could be in trouble after several abortionre­lated bills went down in flames this week.

State Rep. Esther Helton-Haynes delayed for three weeks Wednesday a bill that would remove the “affirmativ­e defense” requiremen­t for doctors who provide abortions for women going through deadly pregnancie­s.

Helton-Haynes, an East Ridge Republican, said she believes she has enough votes to pass the bill out of the House Health Committee but wants to wait until the Senate Judiciary Committee takes it up. The House could pass its own version of the bill this session and allow the Senate to take up the matter again next year if it fails to progress there.

The decision to postpone House Bill 883 comes a day after Sen. Richard Briggs, R-Knoxville, sponsor of Senate Bill 745, delayed considerat­ion of his bill in the Judiciary Committee in an effort to line up more votes. Briggs wants colleagues to get advice from state Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti who, he said, told him it would be easier to defend his bill in court than the state’s “trigger” law, which bans abortions.

Lawmakers still haven’t tried to place an amendment on the bill that would change wording such as the “good-faith judgment” of physicians to “reasonable” judgment, which critics say could increase legal exposure to medical providers who might be charged with a felony for performing an abortion to save the woman or prevent a debilitati­ng illness.

Pushing any bill that appears to soften the state’s anti-abortion law through the Senate Judiciary Committee will be a tough task.

The Republican­dominated panel killed legislatio­n Tuesday by Democratic Sen. Raumesk Akbari of Memphis that would ensure birth control and contracept­ives are not included in the state’s abortion law and another bill by Democratic Sen. London Lamar of Memphis that would renew abortion rights in the state.

Tennessee’s “trigger” law banning abortions took effect in August after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

“This bill is about giving women the opportunit­y to choose their own life,” Lamar said. She urged Republican­s to vote for it in spite of threats by Tennessee Right to Life to negatively score lawmakers who voted for the legislatio­n in a House subcommitt­ee.

Both measures failed 7-2, but the committee voted in favor of legislatio­n by Republican Sen. Joey Hensley of Hohenwald that prohibits city and county government­s from assisting with abortions, such as paying for women to travel to other states for the procedure.

Lamar said hospitals that receive county funding could lose that financial help for providing an abortion for an ectopic pregnancy. But Hensley responded that the bill simply stops local government­s from paying for women’s out-of-state abortions.

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Esther HeltonHayn­es

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