A wide-ranging abortion restriction bill, once believed to be scrapped for the year, will now become law in Tennessee, though it will immediately face a legal challenge.
The bill, part of Gov. Bill Lee's legislative agenda that was largely abandoned earlier this spring amid the coronavirus pandemic, found new life through last-minute budget negotiations between the House and Senate on Thursday.
It passed the Senate 23-5 just after 12:30 a.m. Friday on a party-line vote. Later that afternoon, Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union, and other abortion-rights groups filed a lawsuit against the bill in U.S. District Court in Nashville. In addition to banning abortions after the point a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which is as early as six weeks, the legislation also prohibits the procedure:
- If the doctor knows that the woman is seeking an abortion because of the child's sex or race.
- If the doctor knows the woman is seeking an abortion due to a diagnosis of Down syndrome.
- For juveniles in the custody of the Department of Children's Services, including removing the current option to petition a judge for permission.
JUST IN: The Tennessee Senate just passed sweeping legislation seeking to place restrictions on abortions...Including a ban on abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected
— 🌟🌟Rooster🌟🌟 (@no_silenced) June 19, 2020
This helps African Americans#HappyJuneteenth
While there is an exception to the restrictions if a woman's life is in danger, there are no exceptions for rape or incest.
The legislation was also amended to require that abortion clinics post a sign in the waiting room and inpatient rooms informing people that it may be possible to reverse a chemical abortion and impose a fine of $10,000 for failing to do so.
The legislation was also amended to require that abortion clinics post a sign in the waiting room and inpatient rooms informing people that it may be possible to reverse a chemical abortion and impose a fine of $10,000 for failing to do so.
Similar six-week bans have been struck down in Mississippi, Ohio and other states. Last-minute passage despite earlier signals The bill was passed with Senate rules suspended, as it wasn't on the chamber's legislative calendar, and without any members of the public present.
"This is a 60-page bill that we're bringing up at midnight," said Senate Minority Leader Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville. "This is the most notable bill we'll pass this year. We're doing it in a closed Capitol."
Republicans in the legislature have said they hope the legislation will propel their anti-abortion fight to the U.S. Supreme Court, though Tennessee's approach, similar to legislation passed in Missouri, is not backed by National Right to Life or most other major anti-abortion groups.
While House leadership had maintained in recent weeks that they planned to move forward with the bill despite Lee saying it was no longer a priority while state government focused on the pandemic, the Senate had dug in its heels, arguing they would not pass it without the governor requesting them to do so.
But that changed in Thursday's give-and-take between chambers on the budget. Despite the House always planning on having passed the bill, Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, spoke out on the floor while the Senate debated the legislation a chamber over.
"I feel like there was a bargain made on my reproductive health rights in order to get the budget passed," Johnson said. Democrat: 'We're going to be pushing them into the alleys' Unlike last year's heartbeat bill, which passed in the House but did not receive support from Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, in the Senate, the new approach includes the additional abortion restrictions and a severability clause.
If the courts strike down the six-week ban, in conjunction with the detection of a fetal heartbeat, the legislation goes on to automatically enact abortion bans at eight, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24 weeks of gestation.
