Update: The House on Thursday voted 68-20 to pass HB2416. It still requires Senate approval.
A new bill could further complicate access to medication abortion and add repercussions for physicians prescribing them.
House Bill 2416, sponsored by Rep. Debra Moody (R-Covington) and 20 additional legislators, is set to be heard on the state House floor Thursday. While it hasn’t been debated in the Senate since March 2, its prospects for eventual passage appear solid, as it has so far enjoyed Republican support in both chambers of the GOP-dominated legislature.
If passed, the bill enacts the "Tennessee Abortion-Inducing Drug Risk Protocol Act." The act details outlawing telemedicine appointments for abortion consultations and making it illegal for pregnant people to receive abortion pills in the mail, both of which are already illegal in Tennessee. It also requires that a qualified physician be the one to prescribe the pill, which is already required as the law stands.
What’s new about this bill are some additional procedures for physicians and the threat of consequences if they are not followed correctly. This includes requiring doctors to inform the patient about abortion reversal — something that is not scientifically proven. If a physician “intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly” does not follow the procedures outlined in the act, the doctor could be subject to a class E felony with the potential for up to six years in prison and a $3,000 fine.
“In Tennessee it is already against the law to do a telehealth chemical abortion, so we realized there was not a penalty with this,” Moody said in a House Health Subcommittee hearing on March 30. “What this does is create a class E felony, and it will provide a basis for a civil malpractice action. That’s all we’re doing is adding a penalty.”
The bill concerns the abortion pill — not to be confused with the morning-after pill, more commonly known as Plan B. The morning-after pill is used 24 to 48 hours after unprotected sex to prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus, which creates pregnancy. The abortion pill, on the other hand, is used after the egg is already implanted.
Medication abortion occurs via two pills and is most effective before around 10 weeks of pregnancy. The first, mifepristone, is taken in the presence of a doctor, and the second, misoprostol, is taken around 48 hours later, often at home. The medications have been approved by the FDA for this purpose since 2000.
So far, Tennessee is not going the way of Texas, which passed legislation allowing any individual to sue another individual who “aids and abets” a pregnant person who is getting an abortion. A bill that mirrors the Texas bill was taken off notice in the Tennessee legislature on March 9. A bill introduced by Sen. Mark Pody (R-Lebanon) that could allow the biological father of an unborn child to prevent the pregnant person from obtaining an abortion was also taken off notice this year.
“I think the the intent behind the bill is to restrict medication abortion, and this is part of a larger motivation to completely unravel Roe v. Wade and to take away the right for pregnant people to make their own private medical decisions,” says Francie Hunt, executive director at Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood has its eyes on the case that could overturn Roe v. Wade — Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, set to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in June. Tennessee has a trigger law, which would establish a ban on abortion as soon as Roe v. Wade is overturned. In a potential post-Roe v. Wade environment, Hunt’s concern is that this bill could have a chilling effect on people trying to obtain the medication, as well as physicians trying to prescribe it.
“I think it puts a chilling effect for sure on physicians around medication abortion, and whether or not they'll they'll feel comfortable distributing it,” Hunt says.
Even with the addition of HB2416, abortion would still be legal in Tennessee.
This article first ran via our sister publication, the Nashville Post.
