Anti-abortion heartbeat bill passes Tennessee Legislature, heads to Lee’s desk

The legislation would ban abortions after a heartbeat can be detected, which can be as early as five-and-a-half weeks into a pregnancy. Although similar bills in other states have been struck down in the court system, Tennessee’s legislation takes a laddered approach that would incrementally push back the point during the pregnancy in which the ban goes into effect if the court finds the early ban unconstitutional.

An incremental increase if the court rules earlier bans unconstitutional is meant to encourage the judges to re-evaluate current case law based on the scientific advances made since the Roe v. Wade decision and potentially overrule precedent.

Many lawmakers in states that have passed similar bills have acknowledged that the bills violate Roe v. Wade and other abortion law precedent, but hope that the U.S. Supreme Court would revisit the rulings with the new justices.

The House approved the bill early in the day Thursday, but the Senate did not bring it up for a vote until after budget negotiations Thursday night. Some Democrats alleged the legislation was used as a bargaining chip over budget negotiations, but House Republicans objected to these accusations, saying the two discussions were independent of each other.

Although both chambers successfully passed a $39.5 billion fiscal year 2021 budget early Friday morning, lawmakers failed to advance legislation that would have shielded businesses from COVID-19 lawsuits.

The legislation had passed the Senate, but it failed to get enough votes in the House because of a provision that enacted the law retroactively, beginning March 5, when COVID-19 was first detected in the state. Members of the House were concerned about the constitutionality of retroactivity and worried it could cause a court to throw out the whole bill, which was a deal breaker for some representatives.