NASHVILLE – Republican Gov. Bill Haslam has quietly signed into law a controversial bill that seeks to strip all TennCare funding from Planned Parenthood of Tennessee.
“The governor … deferred to the will of the legislature on this bill as amended, and after reviewing the bill in its final form decided to sign the bill into law,” Haslam press secretary Jennifer Donnals said of the governor’s action on Monday.
The new law, passed last month by the Republican-led General Assembly, requires the state to seek a waiver of federal Medicaid rules in order to let Tennessee eliminate all funds going to nonprofit groups providing medical services that include elective abortions. It’s targeted at Planned Parenthood.
On Tuesday, Americans United for Life President and CEO Catherine Glenn Foster praised both Haslam and lawmakers for the new law, which the group says was based on its model legislation seeking to restrict funding for abortion providers nationwide.
“Based on AUL’s Defunding the Abortion Industry and Advancing Women’s Health Act, this legislation prioritizes the funding of comprehensive healthcare facilities that can help women address a broad array of health issues that Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers are not equipped to handle,” she said in a statement.