Tennessee Bill Would Imprison People for 3 Years If They 'Lie' About Rape to Get an Abortion
Republican lawmakers in Tennessee introduced a bill this week that would add a rape exception to the state’s near-total abortion ban—with the caveat that those who “lie” about being raped to access abortion care could be sentenced to up to three years in prison. The bill, which Jessica Valenti first surfaced in her abortion news newsletter on Tuesday, would also require rape victims who do receive abortion care (which they can only get after an invasive forensic exam) to preserve and submit “a sample of the embryonic or fetal tissue extracted during the abortion” to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation for “investigation into the offense.”
The bill, introduced by State Sen. Ferrell Haile (R) and state Rep. Iris Rudder (R), refers to children as young as 12 as “women,” specifying that child rape victims who are 12 or younger can get an abortion up to 10 weeks into their pregnancy, while children and adults who are 13 or older can have an abortion at up to eight weeks.
The measure (SB857 in the state Senate and HB1440 in the state House) essentially threatens rape survivors—who are routinely disbelieved—with prison time for seeking health care. It also threatens them with criminal investigation even if they are believed and get an abortion.
Haile and Rudder’s proposed rape exception is “designed to be unworkable,” said Jalessah Jackson, interim executive director of ARC-Southeast, an abortion fund that serves several states including Tennessee, and poses just another set of barriers. The health care system is already untenable for survivors: A study from last September found costs for sexual assault-related health care visits averaged at $3,550 for all victims and $4,550 for pregnant victims.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/tennessee-bill-imprison-people-3-161400130.html
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Pregnancy tissue at six weeks.
This does not have a heartbeat.
