Tennessee’s stringent abortion laws are well-known and continue to be enforced.
Planned Parenthood has recently launched a campaign with the aim to reshape policy, starting with legislators. At a press conference held at the state Capitol on Monday, the organization revealed that their primary focus is on voting out state legislators who are considered ‘anti-abortion’ during the general election.
John Spragens, a board member of Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood, emphasized the need for new strategies to restore balance in the state of Tennessee. According to him, flipping some seats is crucial in achieving this goal.
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For quite some time, Republicans have held the majority in the Senate and the House of the General Assembly.
Ashley Coffield, the President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and Northern Mississippi, acknowledges that halting the supermajority in Tennessee will be a challenging task. However, she expresses confidence in their strategy of winning four seats this year and three more later to break the supermajority before redistricting in 2030.
According to the organization, they have invested a whopping $1 million in their initiative, utilizing phone banks, canvassing, and paid communications, which represents a threefold increase in investment. Coffield, the spokesperson, revealed that this is the largest amount of money they have ever spent on an initiative. The bulk of the investments are geared towards targeting voters in November.
Melisa Sauter, the campaign director of TAPP, stated that Tennessee is not against abortion. Rather, it is a state that does not participate in voting on the matter. She noted that in the 2022 election, Tennessee had the lowest voter turnout in the country, ranking 50th. However, Sauter remains optimistic, saying that the only way to go from there is up.
Currently, in Tennessee, all forms of abortion are prohibited without exceptions for rape or incest. If a physician performs an abortion to preserve the mother’s life or physical health, they may face a felony charge unless they can provide affirmative evidence that the mother was in danger.
Out of all the states in the United States, Tennessee is the sole state that has a requirement like this.
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Coffield criticized the abortion ban in Tennessee stating that it is very strict with only minimal exceptions. He also pointed out that the Republican supermajority in the state is firmly against reproductive freedom.
According to Delishia Porterfield, an at-large Councilmember of Metro, there are Tennesseans who are in favor of reproductive justice, but the representatives are not voting accordingly.
Porterfield emphasized that the key to achieving true reproductive justice and regaining abortion rights in Tennessee is to flip seats.
