Image Credit: uthsc.edu
The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –
The Chancellor of UT’s Health Science Center is pushing for the Tennessee legislature to make changes to the state’s abortion ban.
Chancellor Peter Buckley believes that the current law is detrimental to those in the medical field and is asking state medical associations to help lobby for changes.
“A physician is kind of guilty until proven otherwise under the current law, and that is somewhat unusual and could potentially impact our ability to recruit either trainees or potentially even doctors to the state,” Buckley told The Tennessean.
The current law allows for criminal charges to be brought against any physician who performs an abortion, no matter the circumstances. An “affirmative defense” clause does allow physicians to defend the choice to perform the abortion in limited cases.
1000 doctors signed a letter on Tuesday asking legislators to look into revising the ban and also urging Tennessee citizens to vote in the upcoming election, claiming that it did not provide adequate protection to physicians to provide supposedly necessary medical care.
The letter read, “Because it includes zero exceptions – not for rape, incest, fetal anomaly – or even to protect the mother’s life – it forces health care providers to balance appropriate medical care with the risk of criminal prosecution.”
Buckley says the school is working with organizations such as the Tennessee Hospital Association and the Tennessee Medical Association to push legislators to make adjustments to the law during their next legislative session.
The TMA acknowledged their plan to “continue these efforts until the law protects our physicians from wrongful prosecution,” in an August 24 news release prior to the new law going into effect.
THA also confirmed to The Tennessean that the organization “would support efforts to provide greater legal protection for health care providers who provide emergency treatment in circumstances consistent with the intent of the law.”
So far, Governor Bill Lee has stated that he is content with the law as it is currently written. Many Republican legislators have also defended the law, noting that it was actually created in a way to allow doctors to provide an abortion if a medical emergency proved to be a threat to the life of the mother.
The fact that the UT System is pushing for a change to the law to help with their recruitment of students was exemplified as President Randy Boyd and Chancellor Buckley met with news stations and hospitals across the state this week, alleging that Tennessee is facing a potential physician shortage if adjustments are not made.
About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career. Most recently, he served as Deputy Director for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others. He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History. Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com
2 Responses
I wouldn’t want doctors who like to kill babies in my home state anyways. Jus’ sayin’.
What I take away from this is that, according to UT, there are students out there saying “I dream of being a doctor, but if I can’t kill babies, never mind”. That doesn’t sound likely. It sounds like a leftist faculty looking for an excuse to start chipping away at the law.