Tennessee bill to add rape, incest exceptions to abortion ban falters

An effort to add legal exceptions to Tennessee’s total abortion ban for rape and incest survivors stalled in a key Senate committee on Tuesday, likely ending its chances of passage this year.

Sen. Ferrell Haile, R-gallatin, said he couldn’t get the votes needed to advance the bill out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Instead of bringing it to a vote, Haile moved to submit Senate Bill 857 to general subcommittee, a procedural move that effectively ends the bill’s chances this year.

Though the bill could reappear this session, it’s unlikely. Haile said he would bring it again next session.

Sexual assault victim advocates lobbied through the fall for the exceptions, arguing rape and incest victims required to carry unwanted pregnancies would be additionally traumatized. Under current law, even children who are raped are required to continue their pregnancies in Tennessee.

Once filed, though, the legislation sparked criticism from anti-abortion advocates, who oppose any exceptions, and some Democrats and progressive abortion rights groups, who criticized law enforcement reporting requirements and certain language in the bill.

Jessica Barfield, vice president of the Nashville-based Sexual Assault Center, said earlier this week the center wanted to continue to work with lawmakers on appropriate, trauma-focused bill language, but continued to call for support for the bill.

“Knowing Tennessee’s climate, I don’t think an all-or-nothing (bill) is conducive to us,” Barfield said. “It would leave a lot of people across the board without a safe and legal outlet. We’re marginalizing the marginalized even more.”

Advocates on both sides of the abortion issue packed the Senate committee hearing on Tuesday in preparation for an abortion-heavy bill calendar, but several of the most high-profile bills were ultimately delayed:

h Senate Bill 745, a medical exceptions bill with serious momentum in the House, was rolled for two weeks. The House version was up for a second hearing in committee on Wednesday. Sen. Richard Briggs, R-knoxville, is backing the bill.

h Senate Bill 983, another exceptions bill to shift the legal burden to “elective” abortions only, proposing language to define the term as any abortion that is not “medically necessary,” was also delayed two weeks. Sen. Ken Yager, Rkingston, is sponsoring the bill.

Meanwhile, committee Republicans voted down a bill from Sen. London Lamar, D-memphis, to expand abortion services in Tennessee.

Lamar, whose own health was threatened by a 2019 pregnancy, decried Tennessee’s maternal mortality rates and child services. Lamar also criticized the lack of options provided to rape and incest victims under the current law, pointing to 2019 state data that showed more than a dozen children between 10 and 14 terminated pregnancies prior to the abortion ban.

“Our current law is forcing children to become parents to half-siblings,” Lamar said. “That is outrageous.”

The Judiciary Committee also voted on:

h Senate Bill 600, which prohibits local governments from spending money to assist someone in getting an abortion or traveling out of state for an abortion. Sponsored by Sen. Joey Hensley, R-hohenwald, the bill passed on a party line vote.

h Senate Bill 885, which would clarify that various forms of contraceptives are not classified as abortion, failed on a party line vote. Sen. Raumesh Akbari, D-memphis, sponsored the bill. Birth control, including emergency contraceptives like Plan B, is legal in Tennessee.