As enacted, enacts the "Human Life Protection Act," which bans abortion in this state effective on the 30th day after the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade or an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to allow states to prohibit abortion; creates exception for situations where the abortion is necessary to prevent the death of pregnant woman or prevent serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of major bodily function; prohibits prosecution of a woman upon whom an abortion is performed or attempted.Tennessee Lookout says,
Tennessee’s law makes abortion a crime: a Class C felony for physicians – or anyone else – who performs an abortion, punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.The gleeful and patronizing public statements provided by our governor and our two U.S. senators -Blackburn and Hagerty- are horrifying.
It has one exception: abortions necessary to prevent death or “serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function.” Physicians in those circumstances must be prepared to provide proof as a defense to criminal prosecution.
Women seeking an abortion face no criminal penalties. And a woman’s mental health is explicitly excluded as a serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment.
A physician performing an abortion under these circumstances would also have to be ready to provide proof that he or she made a best-faith effort to deliver the fetus alive, unless the doctor could show that doing so would cause death or grave harm to a woman.
I'm venting on Facebook, as those of you who are my friends there can attest, but here I'll just share where this leaves us in Tennessee -not in a good place.
I welcome discussion, but I don't welcome drive-by smirks or gloating or suggestions that adoption is a substitute for bodily autonomy.
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And of course we know, overturning Roe v. Wade is not really about abortion or right to life. It's about controlling women. so the poor woman who has a miscarriage may now be criminally liable, too. The SJC has women by the Fallopian tubes and soon they will come for birth control. But dear men, don't worry, you'll still be able to get your Viagra and have it covered by your insurance. They will tell individuals who they can love and marry. I wonder if this will apply to interracial marriages? Those marriages were illegal in some states before and around the time of Roe v. Wade. Will they overturn votes for women, too? But by God, women, we have the 2nd amendment right to carry firearms! How's that for pro-life?
ReplyDeleteIt's a stunning turn, to _revoke_ a constitutional right. Birth control and same-sex marriage is next. Thomas didn't mention inter-racial marriage. Wonder why... /sarcasm
Delete...perhaps more people will find New York State an attractive place to live!
ReplyDeleteI'm looking at Minnesota.
DeleteCome to Massachusetts - CJ
DeleteI have a daughter in Minnesota ;)
DeleteThe American Taliban. Nobody has the right to decide what women are allowed to do or not. It's really scary! Valerie
ReplyDeleteIt is scary. This court has decided that since women weren't mentioned in the constitution they must not have rights. It's horrifying.
DeleteIt's hardly a dark day, if people of the state of Tennessee don't like the trigger law they are free to elect enough people to change that law. This should be easy all the pundits are constantly telling us that a majority of Americans polled are for abortion.
ReplyDeletePersonally I don't know how anybody that has ever held a baby can be for abortion without lying to themselves about what is happening.
Talk about big lies.
It is indeed a dark day, whether you see it or not. I'm in Memphis, a blue spot in a red state where state legislators only favor small government until Memphis wants to rename a park or something else they disagree with -at times targeting Memphis with laws that don't apply anywhere else in the state. "Just vote" ain't the answer.
DeleteThe lie is that a fertilized egg is deserving of more legal protections than a child or grown woman. The lie is that there's a heartbeat at 6 weeks into a pregnancy. And, as you surely know, the "big lie" has a particular meaning in these days unrelated to a woman's rights.
I've held many a baby. I am in favor of allowing women to choose abortion. I know exactly what is happening and am not lying to myself. That you don't understand that that is possible is part of the problem.
We won't convince each other that either of is right but at least we don't scream at each other.
DeleteI like having somebody from the other side I can listen to.
DeleteI am so with you. Michigan isn't a trigger state as such, but we are on the brink of it -- we have a centuries old law on this that could well come into play now. Right now there is a stay on things and the governor will no doubt veto any legislation on this from our red house and senate should it come prior to election (and hopefully she'll be around another four years). This is bad on any number of levels for women but also for the precedent for LGBTQ and contraception. We must stop them. And soon.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had hope we could stop them, but this has been an ongoing decades-long campaign to refuse to see women as full humans with bodily autonomy. It's a main reason Trump got elected, and they've proven they'll do anything to accomplish this. That they shouldn't be able to impose their religious views on the rest of us doesn't matter to them. The founders didn't even mention women -much less rights specific to women- back in the 1700s, but women were having abortions at the time anyway. *sigh* I agree LGBTQ+ rights and contraception are next.
DeleteIt is just awful. Not only this, but the things people are doing: reporting one another, charging women who've suffered a miscarriage with an illegal abortion, tracking them online, pretending to be ethical counselling women against abortion and lying to them. It is awful.
ReplyDeleteThe amount of tattle-tale interfering busy body activity going on and that people are taking _pride_ in reporting people is disgusting. Freedom of religion shouldn't mean the freedom to make everybody else conform to your religious (mid)understandings.
DeleteIt has certainly caused world-wide concern and consternation.
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
Rightly so, imo.
DeleteI'd like to tell Bob he can hold a baby, but he had the CHOICE to hold that baby. And he didn't have to give birth to that baby, or figure ways the baby was going to be fed once it was born. Right now, the court has taken away that right to CHOOSE. I live in a red state and we vote on this in August. The voting is skewed and reads rather badly. If you vote YES, you want abortion abolished in the state and if you vote NO, you want abortion rights to stay. However, the way the words are written are very confusing.
ReplyDeleteWe need everyone to know about the medical abortion pills. About half of legal abortions in the U.S. occur by medication, which is generally safe and effective, instead of the surgical procedure. However, 2 states have already outlawed these pills, making it illegal to send for and receive them. I wonder if the PO is going to start searching our packages we receive to determine if they are these pills.
This intrusion into private medical decisions is scary. I have experienced the way those things are badly worded, making it hard to understand what it is your "yes" means.
DeleteVery scary...in so many ways and on so many levels. In the days of the constitution women, slaves, and poor folk had no rights.
ReplyDeleteAlso now we know judges can lie to congress to get on the supreme court and there appears to be no legal recourse.
Why they've decided fertilized eggs have more rights and more protections that women is beyond me. It's scary. Birth control will be next.
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