Abortion physician “affirmative defense” bill on hold

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article has been updated.

Legislation designed to let physicians determine when an abortion is needed to save the life of a mother – without facing the threat of prosecution – is on ice despite reported support by the attorney general.

State Sen. Richard Briggs said Monday he is postponing consideration of Senate Bill 745 for two weeks while he tries to shore up support before presenting it to the Judiciary Committee. The bill was to be heard Tuesday afternoon.

“I really think this is an important bill,” said Briggs, a Knoxville Republican. “We have women already, and this is not urban legend, leaving the state that have children that cannot live outside the womb, so they can terminate the pregnancies.”

Pushing the bill through the Judiciary Committee will be difficult, considering its makeup of conservative lawmakers. 

Meanwhile, Sen. Ferrell Haile, R-Gallatin, sent his legislation creating exceptions in state law for cases of rape and incest to a general subcommittee, meaning it is done for the year after failing to receive enough support.

Judiciary Chairman Todd Gardenhire recently told the Lookout he would prefer to see current law stay in effect for at least a year to see how it works. Lt. Gov. Randy McNally and Gov. Bill Lee also have said they prefer to keep the “trigger” law in effect.

Briggs said he conferred last week with Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti in a teleconference and came away with the understanding that his legislation was stronger than the state’s “trigger” law, which is considered one of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the nation.

According to Briggs, the attorney general said his bill, if passed, would be the only place in state law that defines criminal abortion and legal abortion, which would make it easier for him to defend if the matter goes to court.

The Associated Press reported Monday that Skrmetti raised legal concerns about Tennessee’s abortion law and told lawmakers that changes are needed to avert a legal battle. 

Yet conservative lawmakers are running into roadblocks from Tennessee Right to Life as they try to alter the state law passed four years ago – in advance of the 2022 Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade – to allow physicians to provide abortions in dangerous pregnancies. Under the current law, they bear the burden of proving in court they had to abort a pregnancy in order to save the life of a woman or keep her from suffering a debilitating illness or injury.

According to Briggs, the attorney general pointed toward a similar law in Idaho that was blocked by a judge. The Associated Press reported that House Speaker Cameron Sexton also said Skrmetti raised concerns about Tennessee’s “trigger” law.

The House version of the bill was approved by a health subcommittee two weeks ago amid public threats by Right to Life counsel Will Brewer that the Right to Life PAC would score lawmakers negatively if they voted for the bill. The next day, the organization started a campaign in which it named legislators who backed the measure.

An amendment was to be tacked onto the bill, which is sponsored by Rep. Esther Helton-Haynes, R-East Ridge, but it was postponed last week and won’t be up for discussion until next week.

Briggs, a physician by trade, contends a district attorney considering prosecuting a doctor for felony abortion in violation of the “trigger” law would consider the measure “so vague”  it would be difficult to argue in court.

The Sexual Assault Center, for the first time, entered the abortion debate this week in support of the legislation, rallying on the War Memorial Plaza Monday.

“We support victims. But when Roe v. Wade was overturned and survivors of sexual assault were going to be forced to have their rapists’ babies, we stepped in to a space we’ve not been in,” said Lorraine McGuire, spokeswoman for the Sexual Assault Center.

The group was working with Haile, R-Gallatin, and Rep. Iris Rudder, R-Winchester, in support of their legislation to create exceptions in the abortion law for cases of rape and incest. But it feared both pieces of legislation would be pushed off, putting victims of rape in danger of being forced to give birth to their attackers’ child.