Overview
- Rep. Jody Barrett circulated language to apply Tennessee’s homicide and assault statutes from fertilization, in a state that already criminalizes abortion providers under a 2022 ban.
- The draft says abortion would carry the same presumptions, defenses and immunities as crimes against born persons, a structure Barrett acknowledged could allow capital punishment though he called it unlikely.
- The language excludes prosecutions for spontaneous miscarriages and life‑saving medical care but includes no exceptions for rape or incest, according to reporting on the draft.
- The amendment has not been filed or posted to the legislative database and could be added to HB 570 for House Population Health Subcommittee consideration, while Sen. Mark Pody says the Senate currently lacks votes.
- Southern Baptist Convention president Clint Pressley publicly endorsed moving HB 570/SB 738 forward, as Democratic lawmakers and reproductive‑rights advocates condemned the proposal as extreme and warned of potential life or death sentences.