State lawmakers propose a bill allowing fathers to stop abortions
Measure would have no exception for rape or incest
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Your support makes all the difference.Tennessee lawmakers have introduced a bill that would allow a man who gets a woman pregnant to prevent her from having an abortion.
The bill, introduced by Republicans in both the state’s House and Senate last week, would allow a man to request an injunction barring pregnant women from obtaining an abortion for 14 days.
As part of the bill, a court hearing would have to be held within two weeks of the injunction being filed, with the man having to prove that he is the biological father.
If that is proven, then an injunction preventing the woman from having an abortion would be granted to an individual if there is evidence that she is planning on having one.
Proof of parenthood would only need paternity to be acknowledged by both parties, and a DNA test is not required. There would be no exception for rape or incest.
If the woman violates the injunction by obtaining an abortion, then she could be held in civil or criminal contempt.
The Senate bill was passed on second consideration on Thursday and has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
However, HuffPost reported that the bill would likely be deemed unconstitutional, due to previous Supreme Court rulings, such as the 1992 Planned Parenthood v Casey decision that struck down a law requiring spouses be notified prior to an abortion.
Efforts in other states to allow men the option to veto abortions have also failed – a bill introduced in Missouri in 2014 that would have required doctors to receive “written, notarised consent” from the man who got a woman pregnant prior to an abortion did not receive a vote.
Francie Hunt, executive director of Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood, slammed the latest bill in a statement, calling it “unconstitutional, insulting, and dangerous.”
She added: “Nobody should have the power to make health care decisions for someone else — not a judge, a partner, and certainly not a rapist regardless of paternity.
“The priorities of Tennessee’s politicians are drastically out of step with constituents struggling through the coronavirus pandemic. The legislature needs to stop trying to distract the public from their leadership failures with increasingly stigmatising abortion restrictions.”
Last summer, Tennessee governor Bill Lee signed a restriction on abortions that banned them once a doctor could hear a heartbeat, which is normally around six weeks into a pregnancy.
The measure was blocked minutes after the governor signed it into law, with US District judge William Campbell writing that the court was “bound by the Supreme Court holdings prohibiting undue burdens on the availability of pre-viability abortions.”
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