Image Credit: Jody Barrett for Tennessee / Facebook & Canva.
Article by Olivia Lupia, Tennessee Conservative News –
In a recent interview with Seth Gruber of the White Rose Resistance, conservative Rep. Jody Barrett (R-Dickson-District 69) discussed the ongoing fight to protect unborn babies in Tennessee, the unexpected opposition he faced from fellow Republicans and “pro-life” organizations when introducing equal protection legislation, and his intent to keep pushing for these protections during the next legislative session.
Last session, Barrett and fellow conservative Sen. Mark Pody (R-Lebanon-District 17) sponsored HB0570, a first-of-its-kind bill in Tennessee that would have provided children in the womb the same legal protections against homicide or assault all other people are granted and been the strongest anti-abortion legislation in the state’s history.
Though the bill gained significant traction amongst many conservatives and grassroots organizations, the media narrative was highly biased and polarizing as it falsely claimed the legislation would institute the death penalty for women who have abortions.
When it was finally scheduled for the House Population Health Subcommittee, HB0570 was killed by Republicans when no member would make a motion to hear the bill, and it died without receiving an explanation from Barrett or the opportunity for any of the over 200 citizens who attended the hearing in support to testify.
In the interview, Rep. Barrett discussed his surprise at finding those who he believed should have been the legislation’s greatest allies not only failing to support the measure but actively working to help kill it.
“It was really quite shocking to find that the people that I thought would be most aligned with an equal protection bill were leading the fight against it. And it’s been quite an awakening to learn that Tennessee is really a pro-choice state. I hate to say that, but the establishment pro-life groups, their position is that a woman, a mother, should have the right to choose whether or not to execute her child without any legal issues whatsoever or questions being asked about that,” he said.
“And that’s all the equal protection bill is trying to do, that we tried to do, is to say, look if it’s illegal for everybody else, why is it not illegal for the mother as well. And that, evidently, was a no-go for a lot of conservative Christians,” he added. “The bill we wrote and presented…it says absolutely nothing about the mothers; it does not create any new criminal statute. All it says is that all existing criminal code should apply to preborn children. That’s it, it’s very simple.”
Barrett then pointed to the arguments he has encountered against equal protection legislation claiming the culture isn’t ready for such assertive measures against abortion, or it would be “political suicide”, countering that “the arguments that are opposing abolition of abortion simply do not stand up to any type of scrutiny, certainly not logical scrutiny.”
He contended, “There are two different angles, right? There are parallel tracks to make this argument. There is the biblical rail that you need to be on to make sure you’re on the right side biblically of this argument. But there’s also just a straight-up logical argument that murder is murder, and anyone who murders anyone should be charged with a crime and have to face legal scrutiny for that.”
On changing the culture, he said, “There’s so much of culture that we’re fighting, not just the abortion issue…that’s the reason so many of us conservatives ran for office, was to fight against the culture. …If not now, when? How long do we have to wait, 20 more years, 40 more years?”
“The law is a teacher, going back to the days of Moses. The whole reason we had the law was to teach people how they’re supposed to behave. And so, the culture doesn’t dictate to us what laws we write, at least not in a reactive sense. There is reactive legislation and that’s usually not the best kind. But proactive legislation where we get out in front of it and say, ‘this is the way we want to point people in this direction,’ that’s what this is. This is trying to put culture downstream of politics, let the law be a teacher to say, ‘no this is not right and we’re not going to continue to condone this type of behavior, so we’re going to criminalize it.’”
Rep. Barrett confirmed to The Tennessee Conservative his intent to refile the bill for the upcoming legislative session in January of 2027, hoping to continue fostering dialogue about the issue and build on the momentum gained last year to get the bill passed.
Watch the full interview with Seth Gruber HERE.
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About the Author: Olivia Lupia is a political refugee from Colorado who now calls Tennessee home. A proud follower of Christ, she views all political happenings through a Biblical lens and aims to utilize her knowledge and experience to educate and equip others. Olivia is an outspoken conservative who has run for local office, managed campaigns, and been highly involved with state & local GOPs, state legislatures, and other grassroots organizations and movements. Olivia can be reached at olivia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
