NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A bill in the Tennessee legislature would have effectively expanded the criteria for when abortion care can be legally performed in the state. It failed in the Population Health Subcommittee on Tuesday.
HB 1884 was proposed by Rep. Yusuf Hakeem (D - Chattanooga) and would have changed the state's restrictions on abortion care, allowing physicians to provide it if they believed it would protect a patient's physical or mental health.
Abortion care would have also been allowed if a pregnancy was the result of rape, child rape or incest. Currently, Tennessee law does not allow providers to give abortion care in cases of rape or incest. The state's abortion restrictions are among some of the strictest in the U.S. It was previously amended to allow abortion care in cases of ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages.
Physicians who provide abortion care need to prove in court that it was needed to prevent the death of a pregnant patient or to prevent irreversible injuries. Otherwise, they may face felony charges.
"When rape takes place, the trauma, the impact not only on adult women, but it happens to children also, I hope that we see the humane thing for us to do would be to not force those persons under those circumstances to carry that child. What I'm getting at is, what kind of life would that child have under those circumstances?" said Hakeem.
During a meeting of the Population Health Subcommittee, Rep. Andrew Farmer (R - Sevierville) said there is already a population of fathers who do not pay child support and neglect parental responsibilities. He then quickly started speaking philosophically.
He said he disagreed with statements that children born of rape or incest would not have meaningful lives. However, Hakeem said he disagreed with Farmer's assertion that he had implied children borne of rape would have meaningless lives. Instead, Hakeem said the bill was designed to protect women and children who would face more trauma from carrying a child after being raped.
"We're talking about people who have mental issues as a result of a rape. We're talking about people who have trauma that they can't overcome because of that. I question if we're giving any weight to the impact on women under these circumstances," said Hakeem.
Rep. Sabi "Doc" Kumar (R - Springfield) then started speaking and highlighted divisions in the state. He said the state was divided between people who want to protect fetuses and people who wanted to protect children who are victims of rape.
The bill failed in the subcommittee amid shouts from the crowd, as attendees screamed condemnations of lawmakers.