Tennessee Senate passes bill to criminalize supporting minors seeking abortions

Adults who assist minors seeking an abortion or abortion pills could soon face jail time if they don’t first get written, notarized permission from the child’s parent – even in circumstances when the child was raped by a parent, or the child is in DCS custody without access to parents.

Senate Republicans on Wednesday passed Senate Bill 1971, which would create a new crime of “abortion trafficking,” criminalizing an adult who “recruits, harbors or transports a pregnant unemancipated minor” who is seeking an abortion or abortion-inducing drug – regardless of location – if they don’t first get written, notarized consent from their parent or legal guardian.

The bill is sponsored by Sen. Paul Rose, R-Covington, who on Wednesday said the bill seeks to protect parents’ “God-given and state-given rights to protect their minors from obtaining an abortion.”

Parents may still assist minors in obtaining abortion pills or abortion procedures out of state.

Adults who assist minors seeking an abortion without parental consent could be punished with up to a year in jail, if the bill passes. The bill also opens the door for wrongful death lawsuits to be brought by the minor child, the child’s parents, or the biological father, unless the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest.

The bill does not define what type of conversation or action would constitute “recruitment” of a minor to have an abortion. Rose indicated Wednesday that the measure is aimed at Planned Parenthood.

“It is reported that Planned Parenthood was caught admitting that they assist underage girls or adults associated with them to skirt state laws and travel out of state without their parents’ knowledge or consent,” Rose said, without referencing a source.

Republicans approved the bill in a party-line vote of 26 to 3 on Wednesday morning. Retiring Sen. Art Swann, R-Maryville, abstained from voting. Companion legislation has been placed behind the budget in the House. If passed and signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee, the new law would take effect July 1.

Speech and interstate travel remain rights protected by the U.S. Constitution. A similar law passed last year in Idaho has been temporarily blocked pending results of a constitutional challenge.

Tennessee already has some of the strictest abortion laws in the nation, having banned abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with very narrow exceptions for molar and ectopic pregnancies, to remove a miscarriage, or to save the life of the mother.

Senate Republicans on Wednesday voted down an amendment offered by Sen. Raumesh Akbari, D-Memphis, that would have specified that birth control and fertility care like in vitro fertilization (IVF) are not considered an abortion under state law.

“We’ve all watched what happened in Alabama and in other states, and I want to make sure that women who are trying to start a family have protection, and they do not face any barriers to being able to have a child,” Akbari said. “We say we don’t think it could happen in Tennessee – folks in Alabama didn’t think it would happen either.”

Republicans voted down Akbari’s amendment in a vote of 23 to 3.

Restricting access to IVF is an issue of rising significance in conservative circles across the nation. The Alabama Supreme Court recently ruled embryos created through IVF should be considered children and carry the same rights as children under state law, bringing IVF care to a temporary halt in the state. The conservative Heritage Foundation applauded the ruling, and has recommended further restriction of IVF in its Project 2025 presidential transition project plan. Alabama has since passed a new law to offer IVF providers civil and criminal immunity.

Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, argued that the bill seeks to put boundaries on such constitutionally protected rights as speech and interstate commerce. 

Sen. Heidi Campbell, D-Nashville, said the bill would require minors who become pregnant as the result of rape by a parent to obtain permission from their rapist to seek an abortion.

“If a parent has raped their child and the child has gotten pregnant, we would then be providing protection for the parent who raped the child – which is a horrific thing to do,” Campbell said. “Not all kids are in a position for various reasons to speak to their parents about issues like this.” 

Akbari said the bill would effectively bar children in custody of the Department of Children’s Services from seeking abortions, as parents whose children are removed from their custody are often unreachable to provide the required consent.

“There are people who are in situations and circumstances that we cannot fathom,” Akbari said. “I think this is just a step too far. At some point when we say pro-life, we have to think from the womb to the tomb. And those who are living should have rights as well.”

Vivian Jones covers state government and politics for The Tennessean. Reach her atvjones@tennessean.com or on X at @Vivian_E_Jones.