Fiscal Summary

NOT SIGNIFICANT

Bill Summary

This bill deletes and revises various provisions of present law concerning abortion and reproduction, as follows:

(1) Deletes the Tennessee Monument to Unborn Children fund and provisions related to establishment of a monument to the unborn on the capitol grounds;

(2) Deletes the provision that specifies that next of kin to an unborn child can file suit for wrongful death on behalf of the unborn child;

(3) Deletes provisions that make assault or homicide against a human embryo or fetus a criminal offense to same extent as if the assault or homicide was made against a person outside the womb;

(4) Deletes criminal offenses related to abortion;

(5) Deletes prohibition against public schools from entering transactions to assist in teaching family life with an individual or entity that performs, induces, makes referrals for, funds, advocates for, or otherwise supports abortion;

(6) Deletes prohibition against nurse practitioners and physician assistants prescribing abortion drugs;

(7) Requires, rather than prohibits, health care plans required to be established in this state through an exchange pursuant to federal law to offer coverage for abortion services;

(8) Deletes the Tennessee Abortion-Inducing Drug Risk Protocol Act;

(9) Deletes the requirement that the department of health make and amend rules and regulations necessary for the tracking and disposition of an aborted fetus or aborted fetal tissue resulting from surgical abortions;

(10) Deletes requirement that induced terminations or pregnancy be reported to the office of vital records;

(11) Deletes requirement that the person assuming responsibility for final disposition of a fetus obtain from the mother authorization for final disposition;

(12) Deletes prohibition against allowing a patient for whom a surgical procedure is utilized to terminate a pregnancy at an ambulatory surgical treatment center for an additional 12-hour period if deemed necessary by the attending physician, facility medical director, or anesthesiologist;

(13) Removes exemption from definition of "ambulatory surgical treatment center for private physicians' office practices where a total of 50 or fewer surgical abortions are performed in any calendar year;

(14) Deletes requirement that each facility in which a surgical abortion is performed make and maintain a record of the disposition of the aborted fetus or aborted fetal tissue;

(15) Deletes additional licensure requirements for ambulatory surgical treatment centers that terminate pregnancies; and

(16) Deletes the requirement that a waiver amendment to the existing TennCare II waiver that requires elective abortion providers be excluded from participation as providers in the TennCare program be submitted to the federal centers for medicare and medicaid services for approval.

This bill enacts the Fundamental Right to Reproductive Health Care Act to specify the following:

(1) Every person has a fundamental right to make decisions about the person's reproductive health care, including the fundamental right to use or refuse contraceptive procedures or contraceptive supplies;

(2) A pregnant person has a fundamental right to continue a pregnancy and give birth or to have an abortion and to make decisions about how to exercise that right; and

(3) A fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent or derivative rights under the laws of this state.

This bill prohibits the state or a department, agency, entity, or political subdivision of this state from doing the following:

(1) Deny, restrict, interfere with, or discriminate against a person's fundamental rights described in (1) or (2) in the regulation or provision of benefits, facilities, services, or information;

(2) Criminalize any actions taken by a person in the exercise of the person's fundamental rights described in (1) or (2); or

(3) Deprive, through prosecution, punishment, or other means, a person of the person's right to act or refrain from acting during the person's own pregnancy based on the potential, actual, or perceived impact on the pregnancy, the pregnancy's outcomes, or the pregnant person's health.