Gov. Bill Lee praises minority businesses for Memphis impact, talks about new abortion law
Gov. Bill Lee praised minority-owned businesses for their impact on the local economy during a visit to Memphis on Wednesday morning.
“That's why I'm here today, I want to applaud the work that has been done for decades to create opportunity to remove barriers to provide resources to provide access to contracts, to professional services to definitely opportunities between business owners,” Lee said. “That's how business works, and that's how jobs are created. That's how lives are changed.”
Lee was the keynote speaker at the 2022 MMBC Continuum Economic Development Forum power breakfast event held in a ballroom of the Renasant Convention Center Downtown. This is the MMBC Continuum conference’s 15th anniversary and first in-person forum since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
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The two-day conference, which concludes Thursday, includes an in-person hiring fair, various workshops, trade show and resources for those seeking to expand or improve their businesses.
“If you want to impact somebody's life, want to impact a family's life, children’s lives, generational change, you give them a good job, you create economic opportunity for them, you remove a barrier, that you're doing that through your businesses, and the expansion of your businesses and the growth of your business,” Lee said. “This is about economic activity for our state. This is a very important city and region in our state.”
After speaking to attendees for about 20 minutes, Lee participated in a media availability, answering questions on, among other topics, the state’s trigger abortion law following the overturning of Roe v. Wade set to go into effect tomorrow.
“It will protect the life of the unborn which is incredibly important,” Lee said on the law. “It’s also incredibly important we protect the life of mothers. Our law is designed to allow for doctors to perform procedures in dangerous maternal health situations where the life of the mother is at stake. That is how that bill was constructed. It protects the life of the unborn. It protects the life of the mother.”
The law does not contain a legal exception protecting doctors from criminal liability for abortions performed to save the life or because of the health of a pregnant patient. Other states with near-total abortion bans, such as Texas, include specific legal exceptions for "life of the mother." Instead, Tennessee's law includes an "affirmative defense" carve-out, through which a doctor could defend the procedure if the pregnant patient was in danger of dying or of a debilitating injury. Under the law, any doctor could be charged with a felony for any abortion performed and then shoulder the legal burden of proving the abortion was medically necessary.
The governor answered one question from a reporter who asked about Lee’s thoughts on local prosecutors in the state who plan to consider prosecuting abortions case as a “low priority.” Shelby County’s District Attorney-elect Steve Mulroy said during his campaign that would be his stance if elected.
“I think that enforcement and the enforcement of this particular law will occur at the local level,” he said. “We expect the law to be followed. We expect prosecutors and members of the legal profession and the justice system to certainly follow the law in Tennessee.”
Melissa Brown of The Tennessean contributed to this report.
Omer Yusuf covers the Ford project in Haywood County, residential real estate, tourism and banking for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached via email Omer.Yusuf@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter @OmerAYusuf.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Gov. Lee praises minority businesses in Memphis, talks abortion law
