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Raging or rejoicing, Tennessee lawmakers take to Twitter after Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade

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Rachel IacovoneWPLN News
Tennessee lawmakers, both Republican and Democrat, shared their opinions online following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling ending federal protections for abortion.
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After the news broke Friday morning that the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion ending federal protections for abortion, Tennessee lawmakers — both Republican and Democrat — shared their strong opinions in the space of 280 characters or less on Twitter.

More: Abortions in Tennessee have effectively stopped due to legal uncertainty

Republicans rejoice

One of the first celebrations of the news came from Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee.

The tweet thread continued with Lee adding, “We have spent years preparing for the possibility that authority would return to the states, and Tennessee’s laws will provide the maximum possible protection for both mother and child. In the coming days we will address the full impacts of this decision for Tennessee.”

Lee has supported restricting abortion access since the campaign trail.

“I would be for any restriction that would limit abortions. Anything we can do to reduce the number of abortions in this state, I would be in favor of,” Lee told WPLN News while running for governor in 2018.

In 2020, he delivered on that promise, signing a so-called “heartbeat bill” that would ban abortions after embryonic or fetal cardiac activity is detected. It was blocked by a federal judge that same day and has been stuck in the courts ever since.

Still, Lee discouraged Sen. Mark Pody from pushing his Texas-styled abortion law in the spring, though the governor’s office said that was because it could’ve caused some confusion in the courts while Tennessee waited for its 6-week abortion ban to be decided in the courts.

Following the official SCOTUS ruling, Lee’s rejoicing was echoed by his party.

The “life” language was a connecting thread in many of the tweets from individual GOP members as well.

In his supportive tweet, Tennessee House Republican Caucus Chairman Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby, mentioned the highest court’s ability to overturn previous rulings. But others see watch ability with fear, as they’ve pointed out the potential risk to Griswold v. Connecticut (which protects the use of contraception), Lawrence v. Texas (sexual conduct with member of the same sex) and Obergefell v. Hodges (same-sex marriage).

And, though abortion decisions are back in the hands of state lawmakers, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn expressed her support as well.

Democrats rage

Meanwhile, Tennessee Democrats had the opposite Twitter presence Friday following the ruling.

Congressional candidate Odessa Kelly shared many tweets opposing the ruling and said that she’d be attending the Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood rally downtown at 5 p.m.

State Sen. Raumesh Akbari of Memphis tweeted, “With this one opinion, #SCOTUS has rolled back the clock on women’s rights. This decision puts the lives of women in imminent danger by handing politicians control over our most personal healthcare decisions. I’m absolutely livid and heartbroken.”

For the Democrats, the connecting thread on Twitter was that the ruling is “rolling back the clock,” which was mentioned time and time again.

State Rep. Gloria Johnson said she would be attending a rally against the ruling in Knoxville on Friday afternoon.

And in Nashville, Metro Councilperson Freddie O’Connell tweeted, “As someone who personally knows too many women who are the victims of sexual violence, I intend to fight to ensure that one of our core values does not become forcing motherhood through violence. We must ensure access to safe, legal abortions.” 

Rachel Iacovone, Director of Multiplatform Publishing

Rachel Iacovone (YAH-kuh-VOAN-ee) is WPLN's Director of Multiplatform Publishing, which is a long way of saying she leads all the ways the news reaches you (this website, social media, This Is Nashville and more). She began her public radio career covering politics in Florida during the 2016 presidential race. In 2019, Rachel came to Nashville as a local Morning Edition, and later All Things Considered, host before her passion for data deep dives, visualizations, photography and social media storytelling pulled her off air and put her online fully.

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