KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee legislature adjourned on April 25, ending months of debate and discussions on a variety of topics. One of the major topics was access to abortion care, and lawmakers passed bills further restricting the state's already strict laws on abortion care.
In Tennessee, it is a felony to provide abortion care except in some narrow cases, such as ectopic or molar pregnancies. During the legislative session, lawmakers voted to prevent adults from bringing minors out of state for abortion care without permission from parents. It also passed a law requiring videos to be shown in schools about fetal development, explicitly including a video made by an anti-abortion organization that medical experts said would misinform students.
"This year, this legislative session was yet another where we continued to lose freedoms with regard to our bodies, and our reproductive rights," said Ashley Coffield during a press conference following the legislative session, the CEO of Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi.
She said Planned Parenthood was looking at options to comply and challenge HB 1895, which makes it illegal for adults to help pregnant minors get abortion care out of state. The restriction includes providing abortion care medicine and some opponents worried it could include providing information about how they can access abortion care.
"We're looking at our options for challenging this law and complying with this law. We do believe that we can still help people within the boundaries of this law. We always advise minors to involve their parents in their decisions, if that's possible. And under our First Amendment rights, we can still offer any patient information about where abortion is legal, about how they can make an appointment, and we can connect them with navigation services," said Coffield.
She said a law similar to the one passed in Tennessee was also passed in Idaho, but said Tennessee's law was "more confusing" than Idaho's version. Supporters said it was meant to protect parental rights.
Another law, SB 2767, requires schools to show a video condemned by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists as "anti-abortion misinformation designed to manipulate the emotions of viewers" to be shown in schools, or a similar video. Supporters of the bill said it was to make sure students understood fetal development, while opponents said it deliberately misinformed students about how humans develop in the womb and said biology classes already include lessons on human development.
Victoria Freeland, Planned Parenthood's Sex Education Manager, said during the press conference that students need comprehensive sex education that includes discussions about healthy relationships, media literacy skills, boundary-setting skills and lessons about understanding human bodies as they develop.
"The video depicts inaccurate and really emotionally manipulative footage of fetal development., It is not endorsed by any kind of leading or unbiased medical organization," said Freeland. "Of course, all kids deserve to feel safe and proud about who they are, and providing comprehensive sex education is essential to doing that."
Coffield also said bills meant to allow abortion care access and protect reproductive freedoms did not pass. Most failed in the House Population Health Subcommittee. She also said around $3 million in funds approved for improving maternal health in the state was also diverted to crisis pregnancy centers.
"Which are not evidence-based and have no track record of improving maternal mortality rates," she said.
Planned Parenthood said these kinds of centers are otherwise known as "fake clinics" and appear similar to real health centers. Most of the time, Planned Parenthood said they are run by anti-abortion activists who may misinform pregnant people about abortion care. Some may offer free pregnancy tests and pregnancy counseling, but may not provide other kinds of health care, Planned Parenthood said.
"We have one of the worst abortion bans in the entire country. It's a total abortion ban," said Coffield. "We're in a bad place, and there remain lives that are put at stake because of this ban."