Vote On Legislation To Weaken Tennessee’s Abortion Law Postponed
Image Credit: Tennessee Right to Life
Press Release –
HB0883 was delayed in the House Health Committee yesterday and rescheduled for Wednesday, March 1st.
The Senate version (SB0745) is scheduled to be heard, along with other legislation we are watching, in Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, February 28th.
Tennessee Right to Life Statement on HB0883:
Tennessee Right to Life continues to oppose HB0883 that will be in the House Health Committee again on March 1st. We simply cannot support efforts to whittle away at our current protections. The discussions of the past week have shown that even with adjusted definitions, this legislation is unacceptable to the pro-life position. It cannot be reformatted, into a sound bill that continues to effectively protect unborn children in our state.
The Human Life Protection Act that was passed by the General Assembly in 2019 is the preferred language. It protects the right to life of all unborn children in our state with a provision for those situations when the mother’s life is in danger. Although Tennessee Right to Life has made it clear that we would not oppose efforts to simply clarify language in the current law,HB0883 does much more than clarify.
The current law has been in effect for nearly six months and is working as the legislature intended. An estimated 900 unborn children are being saved each month from abortion in our state and no doctors have been charged for saving a woman’s life. This law should be allowed to remain strong in order to save our most vulnerable citizens.
Tennessee Right to Life and thousands of pro-life citizens still oppose HB0883. We urge pro-life members of the House Health Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee to vote no.
Thank you for this update! Please know that we are praying!
Flo Charles
Check the link for the bill HB0883. It leads to a bill about the the state capital commission and an abortion monument. So which bill should we oppose? is it this one? https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/billinfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=SB0983
Lindsay,
Yes. HB0883 is the bill. It’s a caption bill originally filed with generic / misleading summary language with the intent to be changed to something completely different. A sneaky way to get bad legislation past the eyes of voters. With a caption bill, the language that “makes the bill” is actually in the amendments with the bill summary on the main bill page remaining the same and continuing to be misleading.