{"id":281728,"date":"2022-12-18T13:19:30","date_gmt":"2022-12-18T19:19:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=281728"},"modified":"2022-12-20T22:21:17","modified_gmt":"2022-12-21T04:21:17","slug":"tennessee-lawmaker-abortion-needed-ectopic-pregnancy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/tennessee-lawmaker-abortion-needed-ectopic-pregnancy\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennessee lawmaker claims abortion is needed to treat ectopic pregnancy — but is it?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tennessee lawmakers are mobilizing to add exceptions to the state’s trigger law, which protects preborn children from abortion. One senator mentioned the need for abortion exceptions due to medical necessity, specifically in reference to ectopic pregnancy \u2014 but an induced abortion and a treatment for ectopic pregnancy<\/a> are not the same. Induced abortion involves the intentional killing of a child<\/a>, and is not medically necessary to protect the life of the mother.<\/p>\n

State Senator Richard Briggs told WTVF<\/a> he would support exceptions to save a woman’s life. \u201cIt puts me in a difficult position,” Briggs said. “About 1 in 50 to 1 in 100 pregnancies will be tubal pregnancies that can rupture, and that\u2019s one of the leading causes of death in pregnant women: is a ruptured ectopic pregnancy. But if a doctor in emergency circumstances \u2014 under the present law, if he operated on a woman with a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, he\u2019s committed a crime; he\u2019s a felon.”<\/p>\n

URGENT:\u00a0<\/b>For every dollar given, 34 more people can be reached with the truth about abortion. Will you join us in this life-saving work as a monthly donor today?<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

This is false. Tennessee already<\/em> permits abortion in life-threatening situations. However, what makes their law different is the requirement of an affirmative defense<\/em>, meaning that the burden would be on the doctor to prove the abortion was medically necessary<\/em>, instead of on the state to prove that it was not<\/em>. In any case, the law<\/a> still permits abortion in cases where the mother’s life is at risk (emphasis added):<\/p>\n

[t]he physician determined, in the physician\u2019s good faith medical judgment, based upon the facts known to the physician at the time, that the abortion was necessary to prevent the death of the pregnant woman or to prevent serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

…\u00a0Medical treatment provided to the pregnant woman by a licensed physician which results in the accidental death of or unintentional injury to or death of the unborn child shall not be a violation of this section<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Induced abortion is the intentional taking of a preborn life and is never medically necessary. If a child’s death is the unintentional result of an early delivery or treatment for an ectopic pregnancy, this is not deliberate and is therefore not an induced abortion, in which a dead child is the intended result<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n