Tennessee legislature passes heavily restrictive abortion clinic measure
Associated Press in Nashville, Tennesse
Tuesday 21 April 2015 16.34 EDT

Legislation that would place licensing restrictions on all seven of Tennessee’s abortion clinics was overwhelmingly approved by state lawmakers Tuesday and sent to the governor.

Under the measure, facilities or physician offices would have to be licensed as ambulatory surgical treatment centers if they perform more than 50 abortions in a year. All of the state’s clinics fall into that category.

Brian Harris, president of Tennessee Right to Life, called the measure “a common-sense requirement that abortion facilities be licensed and inspected the same as any other ambulatory surgical center,” after the house’s vote of 79-17. That came a week after the senate passed it 28-4.

Also Tuesday, the house voted 79-18 for a proposal that would require a 48-hour waiting period before an abortion. The senate passed the measure 27-5.

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Opponents say the proposals, particularly the one requiring a 48-hour waiting period, place an undue burden on women who may have to pay travel expenses to get to one of the state’s abortion clinics. There are three in eastern Tennessee, and two each in middle and western Tennessee.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/21/tennessee-abortion-clinic-licensing-restrictions-legislature

Haslam anticipated to sign two abortion bills
Anita Wadhwani and Dave Boucher 2:26 p.m. CDT April 21, 2015



On the floor of the House, efforts to amend or challenge the bills by Democrats — who at times argued passionately for a woman's right to choose and detailed the impact of adding hurdles to accessing an abortion for poor or minority women — were handily defeated, with the Republican majority voting down an amendment that would have allowed women to receive counseling over the phone or by a non-physician and an amendment to exempt victims of rape or incest from waiting period requirements.

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The swift approval of the abortion measures by the General Assembly follows the voter-approved passage in November of Amendment 1, which stripped the right to an abortion from the Tennessee Constitution. The measures approved Tuesday are similar to laws struck down by the state Supreme Court in 2000, when the high court concluded that Tennessee Constitution's strong privacy protections extended to the right to an abortion — a right removed by voters in the last election.

Backers of the bills said they were giving voters what they want.

"The majority of voters told us…they wanted common sense regulation," Hill said. "We are keeping our word...we are fulfilling our promise that we gave the voters last year."

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And an amendment added in the House on Tuesday states that if any portion of the measure was held to be invalid, the remainder would remain in effect. The bill returns to the Senate for one last vote on that amendment before heading to Haslam's desk.

http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2015/04/21/abortion-bills-head-governors-desk/26125037/