Two Tennessee Republican lawmakers are supporting a measure that would enable physicians to perform abortions involving “fatal fetal anomalies,” setting up a potential clash with those who oppose changes in the state’s abortion ban.
Rep. Esther Helton-Haynes, R-East Ridge, and Sen. Richard Briggs, R-Knoxville, are sponsoring House Bill 1241, which specifies that physicians don’t commit “criminal abortion” by performing the procedure to deal with a “lethal fetal anomaly” or premature delivery of an unborn child with a deadly condition.
The measure is supported by the Tennessee Medical Association following an October 2024 ruling in Blackmon v. State of Tennessee, in which a three-judge panel found that physicians may terminate pregnancies to save a woman’s life when she’s critically ill. The court also outlined fatal fetal diagnoses that could qualify under their ruling.
Tennessee’s abortion ban allows the procedure only when the mother’s life is in danger.