Two Tennessee Republicans have proposed a bill that would make abortion a homicide, making women who have the procedure eligible for the death penalty.
An amendment for House Bill 570/Senate Bill 738 proposed by state Reps. Jody Barrett and Mark Pody would allow women who have abortions to be charged with fetal homicide and be sentenced to imprisonment or death.
Women would not be prosecuted if "a spontaneous miscarriage" occurs or the "unintentional death of an unborn child" follows "undertaking lifesaving procedures" to save the life of the mother or unborn child, The Tennessean reported.
The legislation is supported by Southern Baptist Convention President Clint Pressley and the Foundation to Abolish Abortion.
"By protecting the lives of preborn children with the same laws that protect people who are born, we are simply loving our neighbors in the womb as ourselves," Pressley wrote on social media.
Tennessee's current Human Life Protection Act bans all abortions from fertilization — with no exceptions for rape or incest.
Anyone who performs an abortion in Tennessee faces up to 15 years in prison. It is also against the law in the state to fulfill orders for abortion pills or help a minor travel out of state for an abortion without parental consent.
The Foundation to Abolish Abortion said there were more than 5,000 telehealth abortions in Tennessee in 2024 and more than 10,000 abortions provided to Tennesseans by clinicians out of state, based on estimates from the Guttmacher Institute, according to The Tennessean.
"Under this legislation, murdering anyone would be made illegal for everyone, ensuring that all humans made in the image of God are equally protected in accordance with the Tennessee Constitution, the United States Constitution, and the Law of God," the foundation said in a release.
State Rep. Monty Fritts, who is running for governor, said he supports the legislation, calling abortion murder.
"Murder is murder. I know that's hard for people to hear, and I don't mean to be hard with it, I promise," Fritts said to The Tennessee Holler.
Fritts has said abortion is a "capital crime because we have failed to identify that tiny little, jelly bean-sized baby as a human being. If we kill a human being, we have to say it is murder."
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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