Tennessee lawmakers will reportedly consider whether to add “exceptions” to the state’s abortion ban, including the “health of the mother,” a phrase that pro-life leaders say has been used by abortionists and their supporters for decades to prop up the entire abortion industry.
Tennessee’s “trigger” law that bans abortion, titled the Human Life Protection Act, took effect August 25, two months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
The act “creates exception for situations where the abortion is necessary to prevent the death of pregnant women or prevent serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of major bodily function.”
In addition, under the law, performing or attempting to perform an abortion is a Class C felony.
“I am of the opinion that, when you look at the life and health of the mother, these are some options that, I think, need to be in place,” said Tennessee State Representative Yusuf Hakeem (D-Chattanooga), who also said he believes abortionists should not be criminally charged for providing abortions against the law.
“Now, that goes against the justice system,” Hakeem told NewsChannel5 Tuesday. “In America, you’re innocent until proven guilty. With this law, a doctor is guilty until proven innocent.”
According to NewsChannel5, Tennessee Democratic lawmakers have already filed legislation that would provide exceptions to the abortion prohibition, including for rape, incest, and life of the mother.
“To not have an exception for rape or incest or life of the mother — and then to threaten medical care providers with criminal prosecution, that’s just wrong. We have to take action to amend that in a productive manner,” said State Representative John Ray Clemmons (D-West Nashville), the Democrat House Caucus chairman.
According to the news report, some Tennessee Republican lawmakers are already backing the Democrat measure.
House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland), however, rejected the proposed legislation.
“We have a really good law on the books right now that protects both mothers and children, and so there’s no reason to change that — that I know of,” he said.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee (R) also said Tuesday he is “satisfied” with the law as it currently stands.
“It’s really important that we provide for the protection of a mother in serious maternal health conditions, situations,” he said.
In December, Lee acknowledged the current law actually “does have exceptions for the life of the mother and serious maternal health conditions,” reported Main Street Media of Tennessee.
In the same report, House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) said he thinks the bill needs further “clarification.”
“I don’t think you want a law that you’re going to have to go debate in court over,” Sexton said. “If it’s a gray area or clarification, you need to make it as clear as you can, and so I think we’re going to have to do that.”
“You know, there’s much debate about whether the life of the mother is covered or not covered,” Sexton said. “Some say it is, some say it isn’t. I think that’s something that definitely needs to be clarified, as well.”
Kristi Hamrick, vice president of media and policy for Students for Life Action, told The Star News Network it is “universally accepted that saving the life of the mother, when two lives can’t be saved, is important.”
Hamrick, however, made a sharp distinction between the “life” of the mother and the “health” of the mother.
“The phrase ‘health of the mother’ has been used by abortionists to justify their entire business model,” she explained, adding that the word “’health’ has been twisted out of recognition in abortion-related law.”
“Abortionists use ‘health’ to justify their healthy bottom line, and they are making billions,” Hamrick asserted.
Under the Tennessee law, abortions cannot be authorized based on a “claim or diagnosis” relating to mental health, including claims that the woman would “engage in conduct that would result in her death or substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function.”
Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins criticized former President Donald Trump in a recent op-ed at Fox News after he blamed pro-life leaders, who did not advocate for exceptions to abortion restrictions, for the Republican Party’s losses in the midterm elections.
“Trump’s first mistake was muddying the discussion with the term ‘exceptions’ that allows the abortion lobby to justify more than 63 million abortion deaths since 1973, while making multi-millions in profit each year,” Hawkins noted, adding, in particular:
Life of the mother protections have almost universal support spelled out in every pro-life bill passed nationwide. Pro-life leaders like myself have been clear that it’s not an act of direct abortion when the struggle is to save two lives, but only one will make it.
In February 2016, when Hillary Clinton was campaigning for president and championing exceptions to any abortion restriction for the “health” of the mother, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser wrote at National Review that, after 43 years, at that time, of Roe v. Wade the abortion industry had shown “that allowing a woman’s health exception to a late-term abortion ban is a loophole so big as to make the underlying restriction meaningless.”
“It applies to anyone who claims to feel ‘mental distress’ at the thought of having a baby,” Dannenfelser observed.
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Susan Berry, PhD is national education editor at The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
What pro-abortion politicians like Trump want is the “health of the mother” exception, which would include “mental health”, which would mean that if a woman would be really disappointed mentally if they can’t get an abortion up to the time of birth, they would fall under that exception. That’s what the Donald Trump’s of the world would want.