Signs outside a polling place support different opinions on an amendment to the Tennessee Constitution on Nov. 4, 2014, in Nashville.NASHVILLE - State Rep. Rick Womick has filed the first bill to take advantage of the General Assembly's newly expanded power to regulate abortion.
The passage of Amendment 1 earlier this month changes the Tennessee Constitution to specify that it does not protect the right to an abortion. Previously, court rulings had limited the restrictions lawmakers could place on abortions.
On Thursday, the Rockvale Republican filed a bill that would require women seeking abortions to undergo an ultrasound between one and three days before the procedure.
The technician would be required to show the image to the woman or to describe the image if she refuses to look. The technician also would be required to make the heartbeat audible, if possible, and describe it.
The bill makes an exception for medical emergencies.
In a phone interview before he filed, Womick said his concern was to "fully inform the mother of what she is doing."
He cited the case of a friend who had an abortion when she was young and later regretted it. He said his bill, if passed, would help "protect the emotional and mental health of women across the state of Tennessee."
Lawmakers are expected to file other abortion-related bills for consideration when the General Assembly convenes in January.
House Speaker Beth Harwell has said that while she can't control what bills are introduced, she plans to "sit down will people on both sides and try to work out something that we can be comfortable with, and that's good public policy for the state of Tennessee."
The Nashville Republican said she will support bills restoring mandatory counselling, a waiting period and clinic regulations. Similar restrictions were struck down in 2000, when the state Supreme Court ruled that abortion was protected in the Tennessee Constitution as part of a woman's fundamental right to privacy.
That protection was removed when 53 percent of voters approving amending the constitution on Nov. 4. Abortion rights supporters have filed a lawsuit challenging the vote count, but it does not prevent lawmakers from moving forward with new bills while the case is being decided.