Tennessee lawmakers have withdrawn two abortion measures that would have required a woman to receive an ultrasound before an abortion and would have banned the sale of aborted fetal tissue.
The proposals, House Bill 1709 and House Bill 1459, were pulled without explanation Tuesday afternoon. They were seen as among the most extensive anti-abortion measures filed in the state legislature this year.
Brian Harris, president of Tennessee Right to Life, says his organization wasn’t supporting either proposal. Instead, the group is backing a plan from Gov. Bill Haslam to regulate abortion clinics and tissue donations.
“I think our pro-life supporters expect us to be modest in our approach and make sure that we’re building good public policy that will stand for decades to come.”
Tennessee abortion clinics say they don’t provide fetal tissue to researchers.
The controversy over fetal tissue transfers erupted last summer. That’s when secret videos were released that appeared to show officials from Planned Parenthood agreeing to sell tissue to anti-abortion activists posing as researchers.
The organization has said the videos were deceptively edited and that abortion providers only charge enough to cover the costs of tissue donation.
Two people involved in shooting the videos were indicted last month.
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM