Tennessee bill would ban most abortions, allow private residents to sue providers
A Tennessee Republican lawmaker seeks to ban most abortions in the state and allow private residents to sue abortion providers under a new bill that mirrors a restrictive ban passed in Texas last year.
Rep. Rebecca Alexander, R-Jonesborough, has signed an amendment that would ban abortions except to prevent the death or "substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function" of the pregnant woman.
A House Health subcommittee was set to hear HB 2779, which Alexander seeks to amend, on Tuesday, but it was rolled a week due to time constraints.
HB 2779 was officially filed in February as a caption bill, a piece of legislation with a broad topic that can be amended more specifically at the last minute. Alexander's proposed amendment has not yet been added to the bill history on the General Assembly's website.
The amendment appears to mirror a similar Texas law passed last year. It blocks state enforcement of the ban and instead allows everyday residents to sue abortion providers or a person who "aids or abets" abortions, such as by paying for or reimbursing the costs of a procedure.
Residents who successfully sue under the proposed law could receive $10,000 or more for "each abortion that the defendant performed," according to Alexander's amendment. Women who receive abortion services are not liable for civil suit under the proposed law, but the bill states patient consent would not be an acceptable defense.
Alexander's bill does not carve out rape or incest exceptions to the abortion ban, but it would not allow "a person who impregnated a woman seeking an abortion through an act of rape, sexual assault, or incest" to bring a civil action against an abortion provider.
Abortion bills: Advanced Tennessee bill seeks to ban abortion medication at colleges, through mail
The bill is the latest effort by Republicans in Tennessee to restrict access to abortion services.
The Tennessee Senate Judiciary Committee last week advanced legislation to ban mail delivery of abortion medication, an increasingly common medical procedure to terminate early term pregnancies up to 10 weeks. The legislation mirrors a raft of similar anti-abortion measures brought across the U.S. in recent months after the Food and Drug Administration last year approved delivery and telehealth dispensation of the medication.
Former Rep. Robin Smith, R-Hixson, first introduced the bill, which would require physicians dispense the two-pill medication in person, blocking patients from receiving it through a qualified nurse or filling a doctor-written prescription at a pharmacy. Smith resigned from her position on Monday following a federal wire fraud charge.
Alexander's proposed amendment would be a step beyond a Tennessee abortion law passed in 2020, then one of the most restrictive in the nation. The law banned abortions after the point a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can be as early as six weeks and often before many women know they're pregnant.
The state has been embroiled in back-and-forth court battles over the law ever since.
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Gov. Bill Lee on Wednesday said he hasn't reviewed specifics of Alexander's proposed amendment, though last year he said he had no plans to pursue legislation beyond the 2020 law.
"We're currently in a situation with the existing legislation in place that is being reviewed by the courts, a very important process," Lee said. "My sense is that we need to let that play out."
Reach Melissa Brown at mabrown@tennessean.com.
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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee bill would ban most abortions, allow civil penalties
