A bill that would prohibit healthcare providers from refusing pregnancy-related care based on their “right of conscience” has been introduced in the Tennessee Legislature
The “Maternal Health Care Protection Act” seeks to protect expecting mothers from discrimination from healthcare providers. Lawmakers said this in response to the state’s historically high maternal mortality rate.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) ranked the state as having the highest maternal mortality rate in the country from 2018-2022.
Sen. Charlane Oliver (D-Nashville), the senate bill sponsor, noted the state’s high mortality rate and said these deaths were preventable. Oliver said the fatalities were a result of systemic inequities such as medical racism, gaps in coverage, delayed treatment, and more.
“This bill directly addresses the dangers pregnant women face when a doctor decides to engage in cultural wars rather than the professional oath they swore upon,” Oliver said during a press conference at the State Capitol on Tuesday. “It ensures that medically necessary pregnancy-related care can not be refused when a patient’s health or life is at risk.”
The legislation would require healthcare providers to act on medical judgement as opposed to “fear of punishment.” Oliver emphasized that the state’s pro-life stance should extend to expecting mothers.
“It must include ensuring a mother survives pregnancy and childbirth,” Oliver said. “It must include protecting her health with the same urgency we claim to protect fetal life.”
Rep. Aftyn Behn (D-Nashville), the House sponsor, brought attention to the attacks on reproductive health across the state. She referenced the story of a woman in Nashville who had a scheduled sterilization service cancelled in order to “protect her sacred fertility.”
Behn said the decision did not happen in a “vacuum” as providers are able to deny care based on their “moral and religious beliefs.”
“What we are saying is pregnant Tennesseans cannot be denied care,” Behn said. “No woman should be turned away because she’s unmarried. No patient should be prepped for surgery and then overruled by a religious oversight committee in the city I live in, and no legislature should be debating the death penalty for women while pretending it’s pro-life.”
Behn said she hopes every pro-life legislator sponsors the bill.
Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) shared the story of a pregnant woman who went to Virginia to access care after being denied service in Tennessee because she was unmarried. Johnson said the idea that women feel safer in another state as opposed to Tennessee should be “eye-opening” and that lawmakers should be aware of the impact they have on women and families.
Johnson said it’s important to talk about these issues given the state’s stance on protecting families and children.
“We’re actually doing the opposite virtually every day we’re up here,” Johnson said. “To my pro-life colleagues across the aisle, I say sign onto this bill.”
Johnson signed on as a co-sponsor to the bill and asked her colleagues to join her in procuring 99 signatures on the bill.