NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Davidson County District Attorney Glenn Funk issued a statement on Friday in which he vowed to violate Tennessee’s Human Life Protection Act in the wake of the SCOTUS decision returning the power to regulate abortion to the states.
In a statement reacting to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Funk said, “Today’s Dobbs decision joins Dred Scott and Plessy v. Ferguson to create an unholy triumvirate of the most hateful and hurtful Supreme Court decisions that will forever stain the Court and this nation.”‘
Funk’s statement continued, using typical far-left talking points on the decision.
“Overturning Roe diminishes the citizenship of all women. Further, Dobbs dismantles legal rights of private family planning, IVF, contraception and marriage equality. This ruling disproportionately threatens the safety of women of color, poor people, the disabled and LGBTQ families,” he said.
“In 2014 and again on May 3rd of this year, the people of Davidson County elected me to enforce the laws of this state while exercising discretion to promote the public good. This power is written into the Constitution of the State of Tennessee,” he continued.
Funk then repeated his vow to violate Tennessee state law.
“I stated on September 24, 2020, I will not prosecute any woman who chooses to have a medical procedure to terminate a pregnancy or any medical doctor who performs this procedure at the request of their patient.
I will use my constitutional powers to protect women, health providers and those making personal health decisions,” he said.
The law that Funk has now repeatedly vowed to violate is the Human Life Protection Act, which became law in 2019.
It contained a trigger provision, which says:
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, this act shall become effective, and to the extent permitted, on the thirtieth day following the occurrence of either of the following circumstances: (1) The issuance of the judgment in any decision of the United States Supreme Court which overrules, in whole or in part, Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), as modified by Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992), thereby restoring to the states their authority to prohibit abortion; or
(2) Adoption of an amendment to the United States Constitution which, in whole or in part, restores to the states their authority to prohibit abortion.
The law establishes criminal abortion as follows: “A person who performs or attempts to perform an abortion commits the offense of criminal abortion. Criminal abortion is a Class C felony.”
Funk’s vow may wind up being only token in nature as Tenn. Code § 8-7-106 says in part:
(1) If the district attorney general fails to attend the circuit or criminal court, or is disqualified from acting, or if there is a vacancy in the office, the court shall appoint some other attorney to supply such district attorney general’s place temporarily. The acts of such district attorney general pro tem shall be as valid as if done by the regular officer, and the district attorney general pro tem shall be entitled to the same privileges and emoluments.
(2) If a district attorney general peremptorily and categorically refuses to prosecute all instances of a criminal offense without regard to facts or circumstances, then the attorney general and reporter may petition the supreme court for appointment of a district attorney general pro tern. If the supreme court finds that the district attorney general has refused to attend and prosecute according to law, then the supreme court shall appoint some other attorney as district attorney general pro tern in the district attorney general’s place for the sole purpose of prosecuting persons accused of committing that offense. The acts of such district attorney general pro tern are valid as if done by the regular officer, and the district attorney general pro tern is entitled to the same privileges and emoluments.
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Aaron Gulbransen is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]. Follow Aaron on GETTR, Twitter, Truth Social, and Parler.
Photo “Glenn Funk” by Office of the District Attorney General/Nashville-Davidson County. Background Photo “Tennessee State Capitol” by FaceMePLS. CC BY 2.0.
Governor,
remove this dirtbag and his staff from all state services immediately
( why is this news breaking story not on WZTY,WKRN, etc)
Glenn Funk…….the prototype hypocrite.
sounds to me like this sob needs an indictmemt for malfeasance and derelection of duty.
did you take an oath do uphold the law even the ones you dont like?
Right on, Funk! Some laws are so bad and repressive that they need to be violated and defied such as: male-only draft registration; laws that discriminate against non-conformist minorities (e.g.: trans-people, etc.); and against those who need an abortion due to pregnancy health issues, rape, incest, and so forth. Somebody needs to put that damned state Attorney General Slatery in his place! I am fed up with Slater’s opposition to Medicare, basic human rights, and a slew of several other issues. Let’s all help Funk defy Slatery and Lee.
Governor Lee, Speaker Sexton please remove this DA and withhold state funding to Davidson county because the DA does not enforce state laws! I guess this DA will not support homeless people living on public lands like Brook ease park either! If the state turns a blind eye to this DA then they should resign or make Nashville a sanctuary city from state laws!
so….isnt this grounds for removal?
if anyone else refused to do their job they’d get fired
Speaker Sexton, Is the Tennessee legislature going to look the other way on this lawless DA? What are you going to do if this DA or another DA reuses to prosecute murder and other crimes? Are you going to be silent? Please resign as leader if you are not going to provide legislative oversight over lawless DAs! This DA wants us to look like California, New York or Chicago!
Please TN legislators, Please pass legislation to remove elected officials from office that do not follow the laws of our state. If this DA wants to make laws instead of following the laws he should resign and run for the legislature. This is the same DA that said he would not prosecute people for Marijuana violations. In TN marijuana is still illegal. TN cannot stand for this type of Blue State attitude. Davidson county already thinks they can do what they want without any Tennessee oversight. Remember the reckless financial mismanagement that this out of step Mayor raised property taxes by 34% and then used taxpayer money to litigate against the people from enforcing a referendum that rolls back the large increase. Speaker Sexton and Randy McNally please make this legislation a Priority to remove rogue District Attorneys in our State.