Legislation Requires “Anti-Coercion” Signs In Abortion Clinics

Both houses of the Tennessee General Assembly have approved a measure intended to make it harder to “coerce” a woman into having an abortion.

Representative Susan Lynn, a Republican from Mount Juliet, says originally her bill would have required physicians to personally counsel minors that they can’t be forced to have an abortion. House Judiciary Committee members balked. So, Representative Lynn changed her measure to require anti-coercion signs at offices where abortions are performed.

“We thought we would amend the bill to have the signage, the proper language, the proper placement, So that women will see this sign and realize it is against the law for someone to coerce, coerce them.”

Lynn cited a case where a father coerced his 16-year-old daughter into have the procedure.

About 20 members of the Tennessee Right to Life group watched from the galleries and cheered when the measure passed.

The bill passed in the Senate 28 to two and later in the House 87 to eight. The two versions are slightly different, so the two chambers will have to agree on the language before it is sent to the governor.

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The bill is SB 3812 Johnson/HB 3301 Lynn, the “Freedom from Coercion” Act.

The legislative staff says this bill requires:
(1) Facilities that perform abortions to post signs informing people of the above provisions; and

A second provision requiring physicians to personally warn minors of the law was removed earlier in an amendment.

The bill would require a sign to be posted to inform patients of the present law, which makes it a Class A misdemeanor to compel a person to have an abortion. The warning would be in 40-point type,

The sign would read: “Notice: It is against the law for anyone, regardless of the person’s relationship to you, to coerce you to have an abortion. By law, we cannot perform an abortion on you unless we have your freely given and voluntary consent. It is against the law to perform an abortion on you against your will. You have the right to contact any local or state law enforcement agency to receive protection from any actual or threatened criminal offense to coerce an abortion.”