NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A bill that would have allowed physicians to give children under 13 years old abortion care, as long as the physicians are licensed and check the child's age, failed in a House subcommittee on Tuesday.
The bill, HB 2603, was introduced by Rep. Gloria Johnson (D - Knoxville). The bill would have ensured physicians could not face prosecution if they gave abortion care to a pregnant child who was under 13 years old. They would have been required to verify the child's age before giving abortion care.
It is a felony for physicians to give abortion care in Tennessee, with narrow exceptions for molar or ectopic pregnancies. Johnson's bill failed in the Population Health Subcommittee.
"This bill, HB 2603, if passed would codify the right to potentially life-saving abortions for anyone under the age of 13. In current Tennessee law, no child under the age of 13 can legally consent to sex, so this bill simply protects these children, all of whom were impregnated by rape," said Johnson. "With all the ways in which we are failing in Tennessee, we do not need to punish them by forcing a consequence of sex that they are not even able to consent to."
She warned that giving birth to a child of rape could also impact their ability and willingness to have children during adulthood. She also said the state would not need to prove that a child was raped for physicians to provide abortion care since pregnancy could only be the result of rape among children under 13 years old.
Rep. Michele Carringer (R - Knoxville) said according to the language of the bill, children could get abortion care at any stage of pregnancy and for any reason, without the need for a medical emergency or necessity.
"The thing I truly have problem with is, this is any time during the pregnancy. This could be right up to the day before they would deliver the child, without any medical problems or anything," said Carringer.
Johnson said if a child and family decide to carry a pregnancy, it would be due to a health problem if patients abort a baby as late as eight months into a pregnancy.
"It's a concern for a 10-year-old to carry a pregnancy, period. Now, certainly, we would like that to happen at the very beginning (reveal a pregnancy), but sometimes kids don't report early. But, to put a number on it, we have to stop pretending as if people decide to have an abortion at eight months because it's their choice. Nobody decorates their nursery and then decides to abort a child," she said.
Rep. Andrew Farmer (R - Sevierville) said he did not agree that late-term abortions are not common.
"It's happened, and regardless with this piece of legislation, I was just surprised that there were absolutely no protections whatsoever that would prevent that," he said.
Johnson asked if he thought 12-year-olds would be devious enough to have an abortion eight months into a pregnancy. Farmer did not respond and went on to say the bill did not account for minors having sex with each other.
"This bill provides no exceptions of two 13-year-olds having sex and becoming pregnant," he said. "It makes the assumption that every 13-year-old becomes pregnant from other means other than, I mean you could have two 13-year-olds having sex, or 13 and 14-year-olds having sex, or 13 and 15-year-olds having sex and becoming pregnant. Your bill provides no, I mean it's just, I'm just taken back at how this bill reads."
Johnson said the bill does not include 13-year-olds because she said 13-year-olds can legally consent to sex, but 12-year-olds cannot consent to sex in any way. In Tennessee law, age can mitigate statutory rape charges. It's known as a Romeo and Juliet law, and several other states have similar laws.
"This just deals with a pregnant 12-year-old, 11-year-old, 10-year-old, 9-year-old," she said. "This is just to allow a child and their family to protect that child from losing their childhood, and losing their life."
Previously, on Feb. 6, a bill that would have allowed abortion care for pregnancies resulting from rape and incest also failed in the same subcommittee.