New Tennessee law bans all abortions, creates Class C Felony for doctors who perform them
A group of Tennessee doctors this week denounced the state's new abortion ban - a total ban on abortions that results in any doctor who performs an abortion being charged with a Class C Felony.
The physicians, affiliated with the healthcare advocacy group Protect My Care, noted that as the law is written, it will endanger the life and health of pregnant women in the state.
Dr. Amy Gordon Bono, a primary care internal medicine physician practicing in Nashville, noted, “Today, we take a huge step backward for healthcare in Tenn.” She emphasized “This trigger law criminalizes abortion— no exceptions. There are no exceptions for rape, incest, or deadly fetal abnormalities. There are NO exceptions for the health of the mother in this law.”
The law allows a physician to mount an affirmative defense for acting to save the mother’s life, when they are charged with a Class C felony, and they are essentially guilty until proven innocent. “So, let’s be clear,” Dr. Bono continued, “these hardworking, empathetic doctors standing here could be considered criminals for doing their jobs and saving your life. These doctors must shoulder the burden of proof against the state. These care providers must prove they are innocent because of careless politicians. These doctors could be criminals for helping their patients not only live, but live their best, chosen life.”
Dr. Laura Andreson, an obstetrician/gynecologist practicing in Franklin, explained, “The shared decision making that occurs between a woman and her physician belongs in the exam room and should not be legislated. Only until you have sat in the silence that occurs after delivering a terrible diagnosis to a parent or after informing a woman hemorrhaging that the only way to save her life is to end her pregnancy, do you have any right to weigh in on this subject.
“This law makes me walk a line between providing evidence-based medical care and being forced to delay care until a patient's medical condition deteriorates to the point of becoming life-threatening,” Dr. Anderson further explained. “There is no definition in the practice of medicine for “life threatening”- no ONE lab value, no vital sign, no ONE algorithm- a decision on how to treat a critically ill patient is a skill I have developed over 20 years in practice. As a result of this Trigger Ban, women will be injured, may lose their reproductive ability, and may die due to the criminalization of those of us providing their care.”
Comments / 70