Nashville Council to file legislation to support grant for abortion access, sex education

Nashville Council members will file legislation Friday to support a half-million dollar effort to ensure Davidson County residents' access to abortion and reproductive health education.

The proposed $500,000 program would likely be administered as a grant to a provider under a memorandum of understanding with the city with three parts including:

• $200,000 toward "comprehensive sex education" resources

• $150,000 toward "safer sex supplies" and community outreach

• $150,000 to assist Davidson County residents with access to abortion outside Tennessee

The legislation will be sponsored by Council members Delishia Porterfield, Freddie O'Connell, Sandra Sepulveda, Ginny Welsch, Emily Benedict and Bob Mendes.

The grant's framework is still being solidified with the assistance of Metro's legal and finance departments. The source of the funds has not yet been decided, but the money would come out of the current budget, Metro officials said.

Tennessee's near-total abortion ban — one of the most strict in the United States — takes effect Thursday. Porterfield said this made it "imperative" that she and other councilmembers announce their efforts.

"So many people are feeling hopeless in Nashville and in the state of Tennessee today," Porterfield said. "We want Nashville to know that their local leaders take this seriously and we're doing everything we can in tandem with any and every organization that wants to work with us."

More: Tennessee's abortion ban takes effect Thursday. Why these women are now giving up on the state

Funding is first hurdle

Metro Director of Legislative Affairs Mike Jameson said finding available funds will be one of the largest hurdles for the proposed program.

Metro first looked to the Metro Health Department, which has funds available and would be willing to back the grant. But the department receives federal funds from Title X that come with "significant restrictions," including against allocating money for abortion services, Jameson said.

"They suspect that they can't give the grant money without forsaking Title X funding, which will be fatal to their operations," he said.

Alternatively, Metro could reallocate funding from elsewhere in the city's budget, though this would be a "difficult assignment" and could include delaying projects or cutting department staff positions, Jameson said. The administration will identify funding options to present to the council for consideration.

Planned Parenthood is the proposed grant recipient, and the organization could pull in subcontracted partners for implementation. The grant allocation could be spread over the course of several months or years, which would alleviate some of the pressure on Metro to find a $500,000 lump sum in an already tight budget.

Sepulveda said the ban on abortion is likely to have heavier impact on minorities and low-income families who cannot easily afford to seek out-of-state care.

Metro Council members asked Nashville police to deprioritize enforcement of the abortion ban in July, taking a formal stance against the reversal of Roe v. Wade.

"Our city has the potential to put our money where our mouth is," Sepulveda said.

More: Nashville council approves abortion-related change to 'Do Better Bill'

State retaliation possible

O'Connell said he considers the proposed program a pilot but thinks it's unlikely that state legislators would allow Metro to continue to fund such efforts.

"I have a feeling that this will be the one time in this particular state where we may be able to take this action," he said.

Metro Council recently voted against hosting the 2024 Republican National Convention in Nashville, prompting rumors of retaliation from state lawmakers.

Jameson said it would be difficult for the state to preempt a grant because once the money is allocated to the receiving party, they may use it as intended, whether or not the state blocks the city from being able to issue another such grant in the future.

The state could withhold future funding from the city or take other regulatory action.

"State preemption is of huge concern and we have reason to believe that they're not enamored with us lately," Jameson said. "We don't want to put fuel on that fire, but we are trying to address some pretty significant needs for individuals that don't have access to health care decisions that they did yesterday, so it's worth addressing. We'll try to do it in partnership with our friends at the General Assembly and hope that they will be understanding."

Cassandra Stephenson covers Metro government for The Tennessean. Reach her at ckstephenson@tennessean.com. Follow Cassandra on Twitter at @CStephenson731.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville Council to file bill to fund abortion access, sex education