Nashville, Tenn., Aug 13, 2019 / 12:57 pm
The Tennessee Senate judiciary committee held a second day of hearings Tuesday in a 'summer study' session of a bill regulating abortion.
In its current form, the bill would define an unborn child's viability as starting from conception. Legislators who support the proposal hope it would find sympathetic ears at the US Supreme Court.
House Bill 77 (Senate Bill 1236) was passed by the state House in March, but the Senate judiciary committee voted 5-3, with one abstention, on April 9 to defer it to "summer study."
SB1236 would have banned abortion from the detection of a fetal heartbeat, usually around six weeks of pregnancy. It was opposed by the state's bishops, and Tennessee Right to Life, over concerns it would not stand up to judicial scrutiny.