Tennessee Republican won’t run anti-abortion bill

Tennessee Sen. Mark Pody said Tuesday he is dropping a bill that would criminalize women for seeking abortion procedures, potentially allowing them to be charged with murder.

Pody, a Lebanon Republican, said he can’t run the measure because of the amendment tacked onto it by state Rep. Jody Barrett, a Dickson Republican, which would penalize women who have abortions, including those who go out of state for treatment of dangerous pregnancies.

“I appreciate that he is very, very passionate about this issue,” Pody said Tuesday. “But it’s very easy to see I don’t have the votes in the Senate, so there’s no sense in running it.”

The amendment to House Bill 570, which deals with the upkeep of a monument to the unborn on Capitol Hill, would treat an abortion the same as criminal homicide.

Pody said he never intended to push such a measure. 

Barrett said Tuesday he is not trying to have women  sentenced to death, even though his bill would treat the unborn the same as the born, calling that the “equal protection” portion of the bill.

“It’s not singling out women. It’s saying that anybody that kills a child in the womb would be subject to criminal penalty,” Barrett said.

The bill contains an exception to save the life of a mother “when accompanied by reasonable steps, if available, to save the life of the unborn child.”
Tennessee has one of the strictest abortion laws in the nation. But Barrett contends the state doesn’t have a complete ban on the procedure because state law only prohibits the practice of abortion by medical professionals, not abortions out of state or by medication delivered through the mail.

He claims more than 15,000 abortions were done through those means in Tennessee in 2024. 

“That’s a gap in the law,” he said, adding that those procedures are often a matter of “convenience” for women.

A group of female lawmakers objected to Barrett’s bill Tuesday, saying he needs to “read” his own legislation and learn more about women’s healthcare.

“It absolutely addresses putting women to death should they engage in the choice to have an abortion,” said  Democratic Sen. Charlane Oliver of Nashville.

Oliver and Democratic Rep. Aftyn Behn of Nashville are sponsoring the Maternal Healthcare Protection Act, SB2510/HB2523, which would prohibit doctors from refusing to perform procedures within the scope of their medical license or professional obligations.

They said the women should be protected with the same “urgency” that lawmakers want to protect fetal life.

“It ensures that medically necessary pregnancy-related care cannot be refused when a patient’s health or life is at risk,” Oliver said. “It provides clarity for doctors so they can act based on medical judgment, not fear of punishment.”