The Tennessee General Assembly overwhelmingly passed legislation banning local education associations or public charter schools from doing business with entities that perform abortions.
The state Senate passed the bill, 27-5, on April 11. The state House approved the legislation on March 7, 70-21. In total, 97 members of the Tennessee General Assembly voted in favor and 26 voted against.
The Senate voted to substitute and conform to the House version.
The Tennessee Star previously reported that State Senator Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald) originally filed SB2158 in the state Senate. State Representative Debra Moody (R-Covington) sponsored the state House companion version, HB2557.
The legislation stresses the importance of children, life, and family: “WHEREAS, children are a gift from God and deserve our protection from the time of conception and continuing into their childhood and education; and WHEREAS, family life education is a fundamentally important aspect of education, and the teaching of family life requires a dignity and respect for life.”
The bill amends Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-6-1303, adding prohibitions for LEAs and public schools or open-enrollment public charter schools to enter into transactions to “assist in teaching family life” with an entity or an individual that performs abortions, induces abortions; provides abortion referrals, or provides funding, advocacy, or other support for abortion.
If enacted into law, LEAs and public charter schools would be prohibited from doing business with entities that perform abortions, induce abortions, provide abortion referrals, or provide advocacy, funding, or other support for abortion.
Local education associations are a home-schooling option in Tennessee.
The legislation defines abortion as “the act of using or prescribing an instrument, medicine, drug, device, or other substance or means with the intent to terminate the clinically diagnosable pregnancy of a woman with knowledge that the termination by those means will with reasonable likelihood cause the death of the unborn child.”
The proposed law excludes acts that save the life of the mother, save the life or preserve the health of the unborn child, provide for the removal of a dead unborn child caused by miscarriage, or the removal of an ectopic pregnancy from being defined as abortion.
The bill awaits the signatures of the Speaker of the House and the Senate. After both sign it, it will then head to Governor Lee’s desk for his signature or veto.
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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, and Parler.
Public officials deciding which laws they will or will not honor is a very slippery slope in a democratic republic.