Group strongly against new law in TN that allows courts to prosecute mom who has baby born addicted to drugs

Apr 30, 2014 at 08:42 pm by bryan


An organization called Healthy & Free Tennessee issued an email to media outlets and followers all over Tennessee on Wednesday afternoon stating, “We are sad that Governor Haslam did not veto the Tennessee legislature's dangerous law SB 1391 yesterday, thereby making Tennessee the first state to ever enact a law criminalizing women for their pregnancy outcomes.”

For those who are curious as to what the bill revolves around, it allows for the criminal courts to prosecute a mother for an assaultive offense or homicide if she illegally takes a narcotic drug while pregnant and the child is born addicted, is harmed, or dies because of the drug.

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According to the Healthy & Free Tennessee group, they first started organizing against this law in March when it was still in sub-committees. Their efforts to curb the bill before it got to the governor, failed. They noted, “We took this issue on because the voices of families, mothers and babies in TN needed to be heard.”

Governor Haslam signed the bill into law on Tuesday. 

Source and Additional Information

  • Learn more about the bill HERE
  • Additional Information HERE
  • Learn about Healthy & Free Tennessee HERE
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