IVF protection bill dies in Tennessee House committee
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A bill that would protect IVF treatments in Tennessee failed to make it out of committee Tuesday afternoon after Republicans voted down the measure.
During a House Population Health Subcommittee meeting, state Rep. Harold Love Jr. (D-Nashville) asked the committee to advance HB227, which would clarify that an abortion, as defined in other state law, does not include contraceptives or the “disposal of embryos resulting from fertility treatments.”
“We just want to clarify, again, that abortion does not include the use of contraceptives or things like IVF,” he told the committee, saying previously passed laws sometimes include ambiguity, and he wanted to make sure terms were clearly defined for all Tennesseans.
Crime in Nashville: Most violent offenses decreasing, except for rape
The topic’s popularity follows the recent Alabama Supreme Court decision that has thrown IVF into peril in the Yellowhammer State.
Witnesses speaking in support of the bill were Kelli Nowers, who has two children conceived through IVF. She said Tennessee has one of the worst maternal health outcomes in the nation, adding that she feared people may conflate the definition of abortion with the process of embryo disposal and how it could bring panic among Tennesseans.
“The bill before you is simple and straightforward, by documenting in law that fertility care and contraceptives are different and separate medical treatments and are legal for Tennesseans, aligning Tennessee with every leading legal and medical organization,” she said. “I urge you to vote ‘yes’ on this bill to protect the access that so many Tennesseans, including myself and my family, rely on to make important decisions about building their family.”
Courtney Joslin, a resident fellow at the R Street research organization, said the bill was very simple and encouraged its passage.
Read the latest from the TN State Capitol Newsroom
“You may hear some say that the law doesn’t need clarification, but I can assure you that it does,” she told the committee. “In theory, any law or regulation that is unclear to citizens is subject to court action. In practice, this appears to be the case here in Tennessee.”
Joslin said after Roe v. Wade fell in the Dobbs decision from the U.S. Supreme Court, neighboring states including Georgia, Kentucky, Arkansas, and South Carolina joined numerous other states around the country in “carving out” contraception clarifications to their own abortion bans, while “Tennessee has yet to do so.”
Joslin added after questions from state Rep. Caleb Hemmer (D-Nashville) that multiple state legislatures are in the process of drafting legislation to clarify that IVF is not included in abortion bans nationwide. Love said lawmakers in Alabama were also in the process of drafting clarifying legislation to make sure those residents have IVF protections.
Joslin also preempted concerns that the bill’s language was a “Trojan Horse bill,” saying after looking at it and other similar bills, it “does nothing except clarify that contraception and IVF remain legal and accessible.”
“This would ensure to Tennesseans that they are still able to access IVF treatment as well as contraception, so all contraceptives that are on the market, that are currently legal and accessible here,” she said. “It just clarifies to them that none of anything related to the abortion ban here in the state relates to their contraceptive care or their IVF care.”
TN lawmakers push to expand recycling throughout the state
But the measure received resistance from Republicans on the committee. State Rep. Bryan Terry (R-Murfreesboro) said the bill was more confusing than current legal language on the books.
“Both IVF and contraception is legal in the state of Tennessee,” he said. “There’s not something that anybody’s doing to not make that legal here in Tennessee.”
He cited a 2022 opinion from Tennessee Attorney General Johnathan Skrmetti that said the state’s Human Life Protection Act does not apply to IVF treatment – only “when a woman has a living unborn child within her body.”
To that point, Terry added, the AG opinion would also apply to contraception in Tennessee.
“By its definition, a contraceptive is given to someone that is not known to be pregnant,” he said. “They are preventing the pregnancy, so it’s already protected in here.”
Terry also took issue with the definition given for IVF, saying it would allow for “selective abortion.”
“As you have this drafted, it does allow abortion,” Terry said.
Terry added the AG could defend the state’s abortion ban as it is written currently, and that Love’s bill would allow for “selective abortion during IVF,” stating he would be against the measure.
⏩ Read today’s top stories on wkrn.com
Chairman Michele Carringer (R-Knoxville) said she repeatedly heard about Alabama, but “We’re living in the state of Tennessee. We do not abide by Alabama’s state laws. We’re the state of Tennessee.”
“There was nowhere in our bill that prohibited IVF or contraceptives, just like my colleague has mentioned,” she added.
The bill ultimately failed on a mostly-party line vote, with state Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville), state Rep. Ron Travis (R-Dayton), and Hemmer in favor and state Rep. Andrew Farmer (R-Sevierville), state Rep. Sabi Kumar (R-Springfield), state Rep. Iris Rudder (R-Winchester), Terry, and Carringer opposed.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
