BELOW: Statement by Anna Carella, Co-State Director of Healthy and Free TN on the hearing of Senate Bill 1180, an abortion ban bill which the TN Attorney General has said is constitutionally infirm, as well as coming on the heels of the decision to stop enforcing two current TN abortion restrictions due to state litigation. Statement also contains portions of Hadleigh Tweedall's testimony that she will give today in Senate Judiciary Committee.
"Due to a state level lawsuit, two abortion restrictions struck down federally will no longer be enforced in Tennessee. CHOICES Memphis Center for Reproductive Health was among the litigants in the case. The Center for Reproductive Rights who prosecuted the state in the case are the same lawyers who brought and won the Texas Supreme Court case this past summer. The Supreme Court ruling acknowledged that these TRAP laws are medically unnecessary and cause undue burdens to people seeking safe and legal abortion care.
Amidst this important development, the TN legislature is considering yet another medically unnecessary and extreme abortion restriction. SB 1180/HB 1189 is a sneaky 20 week abortion ban bill. It would mandate viability testing after 20 weeks and then ban abortions after the fetus is deemed viable, with narrow exceptions for a woman's health. It also changes the legal definition of a medical emergency and threatens prosecution and jail time for doctors who perform the procedure, all of which is legally questionable. The Tennessee Attorney General issued a recent opinion stating that this bill is "constitutionally infirm", acknowledging that he doesn't think the law would hold up in court against our established constitutional right to abortion based on past court rulings.
This bill has rightly been referred to as cruel, as it targets those rare occurrences when abortions are needed after 20 weeks of pregnancy. 99% of abortions occur before 21 weeks, but when they are needed later in pregnancy, it is often for medically complicated reasons like dangerous fetal anomalies or for serious risk to the woman's health. Hadleigh Tweedall has been incredibly brave in sharing the story of her wanted pregnancy loss that has prompted her to speak out against this bill.
