Tennessee abortion bill would publicize doctors' names (subtitle: fuck everything)
Tennessee lawmakers are debating legislation that calls for posting online the names of doctors who perform abortions and that could also identify their patients, The Tennessean says.
The measure, HB 3808 ("The Life Defense Act of 2012"), is to be taken up Wednesday by the House Health and Human Resources Committee, says its sponsor, Republican Rep. Matthew Hill of Jonesborough. The bill cleared a subcommittee March 6 on an 8-5 vote along party lines.
"The Department of Health already collects all of the data, but they don't publish it," Hill told our Gannett colleague in Nashville. "All we're asking is that the data they already collect be made public."
Opponents, however, say the bill is designed to intimidate doctors and their patients seeking abortions, even in emergency situations.
"I think publicizing this information will do nothing but cause serious consequences," said state Rep. Gary Odom, D-Nashville. "This is dangerous. This is a dangerous piece of legislation."
Hill said he plans to address opponents' concerns, without being specific.
The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled in 2000 that the state constitution protects abortion.
Bills to restrict abortion have emerged in several states. Elsewhere in the nation:
• In Georgia, a bill to cut by six weeks the time women would have for an elective abortion passed a Senate committee Monday, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
The measure is being referred to as the "fetal pain bill." Proponents say a fetus can feel pain at 20 weeks and the state should therefore protect it. Any abortion after 20 weeks would require that the fetus be removed alive.
Opponents have lobbied hard to change or defeat House Bill 954.
• In Idaho, the Republican-dominated Senate on Monday passed legislation that would require an ultrasound before any abortion, the Twin Falls Times-News reports. The bill moves to the Republican-majority House, where passage is all but certain.
Similar measures have passed in Texas and Virginia.
During floor debate, a Republican senator suggested that for women seeking an abortion because of rape, a doctor should ask her if the pregnancy could have been "caused by normal relations in a marriage," the Associated Press reported.
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The measure, HB 3808 ("The Life Defense Act of 2012"), is to be taken up Wednesday by the House Health and Human Resources Committee, says its sponsor, Republican Rep. Matthew Hill of Jonesborough. The bill cleared a subcommittee March 6 on an 8-5 vote along party lines.
"The Department of Health already collects all of the data, but they don't publish it," Hill told our Gannett colleague in Nashville. "All we're asking is that the data they already collect be made public."
Opponents, however, say the bill is designed to intimidate doctors and their patients seeking abortions, even in emergency situations.
"I think publicizing this information will do nothing but cause serious consequences," said state Rep. Gary Odom, D-Nashville. "This is dangerous. This is a dangerous piece of legislation."
Hill said he plans to address opponents' concerns, without being specific.
The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled in 2000 that the state constitution protects abortion.
Bills to restrict abortion have emerged in several states. Elsewhere in the nation:
• In Georgia, a bill to cut by six weeks the time women would have for an elective abortion passed a Senate committee Monday, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
The measure is being referred to as the "fetal pain bill." Proponents say a fetus can feel pain at 20 weeks and the state should therefore protect it. Any abortion after 20 weeks would require that the fetus be removed alive.
Opponents have lobbied hard to change or defeat House Bill 954.
• In Idaho, the Republican-dominated Senate on Monday passed legislation that would require an ultrasound before any abortion, the Twin Falls Times-News reports. The bill moves to the Republican-majority House, where passage is all but certain.
Similar measures have passed in Texas and Virginia.
During floor debate, a Republican senator suggested that for women seeking an abortion because of rape, a doctor should ask her if the pregnancy could have been "caused by normal relations in a marriage," the Associated Press reported.
Source