A bill that proposed an even stricter version of the new Texas abortion law has been pulled from consideration. SB2582 was deferred in committee hearings this week, and the sponsor says Republican leaders have been resistant.
“We were hoping to have it heard today,” Sen. Mark Pody, R-Lebanon, told WPLN News on Wednesday afternoon. “However, we’ve been working with the governor’s office, and at this point, they’re uncomfortable having this bill going through … They felt it could cause some confusion in the courts.”
The Tennessee House had already started advancing the proposal that would allow anyone to sue those who help someone get an abortion — at any stage of pregnancy.
But, earlier this month, Senate Speaker Randy McNally became the first Republican to come out in opposition. He said the measure, if it became law, would complicate the state’s current court challenge to uphold a more conventional abortion restriction that sets a limit around six weeks of pregnancy.
Pody says he’s agreed to bring his bill back next year instead and so has the House sponsor, Rep. Rebecca Alexander, R-Jonesborough.
“I don’t agree with their logic,” he says of the resistance from GOP leaders. “However, as we’re going through, the goal in the end for me is to find any way I can to get this piece of legislation passed.”
Another abortion restriction (SB2281) written by Tennessee Right to Life, that would limit the ability to get an out-of-state doctor to prescribe abortion medication, is still making its way through the legislature.
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