Anti-abortion activist Brian Gunter, pastor of Salem Baptist Church in Walker, Louisiana, is joined by a crowd as he sings hymns after a measure criminalizing women who have abortions failed in a Tennessee House committee. – Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout
NASHVILLE — A Tennessee House committee rejected an anti-abortion bill Tuesday that would have criminalized women for seeking abortion procedures, potentially allowing them to be charged with murder.
The bill failed for lack of support and didn’t come to a vote in the Population Health Subcommittee, leading supporters to sing hymns and protest in the Cordell Hull Legislative Building.
An amendment to House Bill 570, sponsored by Republican Rep. Jody Barrett of Dickson, would have treated an abortion the same as criminal homicide, penalizing women who have abortions, including those who go out of state for treatment of dangerous pregnancies. Barrett’s bill would provide the same “equal protection” for fetuses as for people.
Barrett, who claimed the outcome didn’t match Tennessee Republicans’ guiding principles, said afterward the “right to life is fundamental and … cannot be infringed.”
“Nobody should have legal immunity to commit murder against any human in this state,” he said.
Groups such as End Abortion Now and the Foundation to Abolish Abortion that supported Barrett’s bill blasted the Republican supermajority legislature for claiming to be “pro-life” but refusing to support the legislation. They expect to revive the bill in 2027.
Knoxville resident Breanne Houston said in a press conference afterward her position on abortion changed after she had the procedure more than a decade ago.
“Our laws already recognize that every human being deserves equal protection under the law,” Houston said. “Right now the only class of human beings excluded from that protection are those that happen to be located inside the womb.”
Tennessee enacted one of the strictest abortion laws in the nation in 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down federal protections for abortion in Roe v. Wade. But Barrett contends that Tennessee doesn’t have a complete ban on the procedure because state law prohibits only the practice of abortion by medical professionals, not abortions performed out of state or by medication delivered through the mail.
Barrett said the abortion rate has increased since Roe was overturned followed by passage of Tennessee’s abortion restrictions. For instance, in 2024, more than 15,000 abortions were done in Tennessee, he claimed, including self-induced abortions.
The bill was hamstrung from the outset of this year’s legislation session because the Senate sponsor, Sen. Mark Pody of Lebanon, said he didn’t have enough votes to pass it with Barrett’s amendment.
Maternal health bill fails
The Population Health Subcommittee also turned down HB2523, a Democrat-sponsored measure that would prevent discrimination by maternal healthcare providers. The Maternal Health Protection Act was written in response to an incident in which a Jonesborough woman was allegedly denied care because she was unmarried. Rep. Aftyn Behn and Sen. Charlane Oliver, both Nashville Democrats, sponsored the measure.
Ashley Coffield, CEO of Planned Parenthood in Tennessee and North Mississippi, said afterward it was disappointing to see the measure fail, since Tennessee leads the nation in maternal deaths.
“The lawmakers who voted no today cannot be taken seriously as people who want babies and moms to live,” Coffield said.
Supporters of the legislation said afterward that Republican Rep. Bryan Terry of Murfreesboro questioned whether the woman was turned away in Tennessee.
After going to Virginia for care, the woman spoke about the incident publicly and was referred to a second provider, where it was discovered that she had experienced a “silent miscarriage,” according to Planned Parenthood.
The group said lawmakers failed to “see the flaw” in legislation they passed in 2025 allowing physicians to refuse maternal care to patients and refused to make an exception for pregnant women.
Reacting to the failure of Barrett’s bill, Coffield said her group is “deeply concerned” that it could come back in 2027.
“They want to execute women that are seeking healthcare,” Coffield said.
Earlier, though, Barrett said his bill was misconstrued as an effort to put women to death for having an abortion and noted that the death penalty is rarely carried out in Tennessee.
Editor’s note: Story reprinted by permission of Tennessee Lookout, visit TennesseeLookout.com for more information.
