FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 9, 2015
CONTACT
Lindsay Kee, ACLU-TN communications director, 615-320-7142
NASHVILLE – This week state legislators introduced a second bill to regulate abortion in Tennessee. SB 13, introduced by Senator Mae Beavers this week, mandates what physicians must tell patients who are considering an abortion.
HB 2, filed by Rick Womick in November, would mandate an ultrasound for a woman seeking an abortion, and require her to either view the ultrasound or listen to a verbal description of it, to listen to a fetal heartbeat, and to wait at least twenty-four hours after the ultrasound before having an abortion
Legislators have indicated that they plan to file a number of other bills regulating abortion this session.
The following can be attributed to Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee:
“No matter what you call them, the abortion bills introduced so far are not about providing evenhanded information to patients so that they can make the best decisions for themselves possible. These bills amount to nothing more than political interference intended to bias a woman’s personal health care decisions. A woman needs to be informed about the risks involved with any medical procedure, but the information should not be provided in a way intended to coerce, shame or make her change her mind. Doctors, not politicians, should decide what is said to a patient, based on a woman’s unique circumstances. ACLU is committed to protecting Tennessee women’s ability to make personal, private health care decisions without government interference.”
Information about the ACLU of Tennessee is available at: www.aclu-tn.org.
