TMA, along with a coalition of stakeholders representing medical and hospital interests, is asking the Tennessee General Assembly to support SB745/HB883, otherwise known as the Life-of-Mother Exemption bill.
Senator Brent Taylor (R-Germantown, Collierville: 615-741-3036) and Senator Paul Rose (R-Lakeland, Arlington: 615-741-1967) may be voting on Senate Bill 745 TOMORROW.
We ask that you click here to sign our petition to the senators, and call their offices at the above numbers. If you are a constituent, please let them know that as well.
No physician should have to second-guess their decision to save a mother’s life.
You can click here for a full policy brief on the issue.
What’s important is:
SB745/HB883 removes the law’s affirmative defense and makes a clear exception for pregnancy terminations done to prevent death or irreversible impairment of major bodily function of the mother. It provides certainly and clarity for the physician needing to take appropriate medical actions to save the life of a mother.
The bill also:
– clarifies that commonly performed medically necessary procedures, such as ectopic pregnancy removals, are not criminal abortions
– authorizes the doctor to petition the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners to hold a hearing to determine the medical necessity of the abortion before a criminal trial is held
– allows for termination of a pregnancy when a non-survivable fetal anomaly is diagnosed
-provides immunity for pharmacists for dispensing drugs that can be used to induce abortion, but have other recognized non-abortion indications such as cancer and lupus
-removes from Tennessee Code confusing or conflicting laws and language that were superseded by the Trigger Law.
