Yager explains position on abortion bill

At a recent online Breakfast with the Legislators meeting, Tennessee Sen. Ken Yager, R-Kingston, explained his position on an abortion-related bill.

The meeting, sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge, was held April 25. The Tennessee General Assembly has since ended its session without passing the bill he was commenting on.

The legislation would have banned almost all abortions in the state, including in cases of rape and incest, in addition to allowing private residents to pursue abortion providers for civil penalties.

“Giving individual citizens a cause of action in the courts would really upend our tort system and our law of negligence in Tennessee,” he said in response to an audience comment, thanking him for his opposition to that bill.

He said "giving just anybody” the ability to pursue litigation was “really not good law.”

Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, has also on other occasions said he opposed the bill. He has said would "complicate" matters for Tennessee's existing abortion law, which was one of the most stringent in the nation when passed in 2020.

“Basically, you’d have to start over,” he said.

The nation, the state, and abortion

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to release a ruling in a lawsuit challenging a Mississippi law this summer. The suit could act as a direct challenge to the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that found abortion rights are constitutionally protected.

Politico reported late last Monday, May 2, that a leaked draft opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito would overturn the decision.

On May 3, Chief Justice John Roberts issued a statement confirming the authenticity of the draft opinion and ordered an investigation into what he called an “egregious breach of trust.”

Other news organizations, including USA Today, have not independently verified the report. Votes and the wording of opinions can change drastically from draft to final versions. A draft opinion is not a binding ruling.

Abortion is currently legal in all 50 states. However, overturning Roe returns the decision on reproductive health care access back to the states.

Tennessee is one of nearly two dozen states certain to ban abortion in the event of Roe being overturned. Voters amended Tennessee's state constitution in 2014 to specifically remove access to abortion as a fundamental right in the state.

The state in 2019 also passed a "trigger law" that would institute a de facto abortion ban should the Supreme Court overturn its Roe decision. If the law is activated, the Attorney General would notify the Tennessee Code Commission.

Then, within 30 days of that notice, the state would officially have an abortion ban in place. The measure would make it a felony for a doctor to perform an abortion, while women seeking abortions would be exempt from prosecution.

Ben Pounds is a staff reporter for The Oak Ridger. Melissa Brown and Mariah Timms with The Tennessean newspaper in Nashville contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Yager explains position on abortion bill to League of Women Voters