The “Fertility Treatment and Contraceptive Protection Act” was signed by Governor Lee on Thursday, April 24. This Republican-sponsored bill gives the right to in vitro fertilization (IVF) and contraceptives in Tennessee. The bill unanimously passed the Senate, but Republicans were divided in the House—leaving 37 voting against it and 11 House Republicans urging Governor Lee to push a veto on the bill. This bill was sponsored by Representative Iris Rudder (R-Winchester) and Senator Becky Massey (R-Knoxville).
“To me, this bill is about life,” Representative Rudder said. “It brings life into the world. It gives families the right to access IVF. It gives families the opportunity to plan their families through contraceptives.”
“We already encode [in state law] on the one hand, that an embryo is a person; it’s an unborn child, yet this bill creates a statutory right to create and destroy human embryos without limitation of any kind, just wantonly,” Rep. Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood) said.
“I think as you listen to some of the discussion on the House floor this morning, maybe you can understand why this is a very important bill to codify into law the rights of women to continue to access IVF and contraceptives,” Rep. Rudder said. “This bill has nothing to do with what has been discussed on this floor this morning, other than to codify into law that the women in the state of Tennessee will continue to have the right to access IVF and contraceptives.”
In response to the bill, the 11 House Republicans wrote a letter to Governor Lee discussing the option of veto.
The letter, sent by Rep. Chris Todd (R-Madison County), also signed by Rep. Scott Cepicky (R-Culleoka), Rep. Jody Barrett (R-Dickson), Rep. Monty Fritts (R-Kingston), Rep Michele Reneau (R-Signal Mountain), Rep. Timothy Hill (R-Blountville), Rep. Todd Warner (R-Chapel Hill), Rep. Aron Maberry (R-Clarksville), Rep. Kip Capley (R-Summertown), Rep. Brock Martin (R-Huntington), and Rep. Ed Butler (R-Rickman), argued the “morning after pill” could be considered an abortion pill because it could prevent implantation of a fertilized egg, a notion that’s been disproven by multiple medical studies.
In addition, lawmakers wrote in the letter IVF clinics destroy the “fertilized eggs that the couple does not use,” which is “a type of abortion” and “an act of intentionally terminating human life that should not be provided legal cover.”
The letter goes on to state IVF can result in “too many pregnancies at once,” posing a health risk to the mother and her babies and requiring a surgery to remove some of the babies. Lawmakers called this “selective abortion.”
