Bill Proposed By Tennessee Lawmakers That Allows Biological Father Petition To Stop Abortions

The anti-abortion law is again in the picture when some of the Republicans lawmakers have proposed a bill regarding the anti-abortion petition. In one more anti-abortion push, the Republican lawmakers have introduced a bill that would grant the biological father a right to stop abortion.

Bill Proposed By Tennessee Lawmakers That Allows Biological Father Petition To Stop Abortions

The bill proposed by the Tennesse lawmakers will stop a woman from aborting the child if a person who is the biological father filed a petition for the same.

The legislation was proposed in both the Tennessee House and the Senate. The bill was put forward last week. The person can petition a court to stop the woman pregnant with his child from having an abortion. 

However, the bill requires certain evidence that need to be submitted by the person who claimed to be the biological father. The person should prove the fact before the court that he indeed is the biological father. Though, it is not mandatory to undergo a DNA test. 

According to the bill, mere acceptance by the person that he is the biological father is acceptable. If one voluntarily accepts being the biological father, then even the pregnant parent’s signatures are not required in the case. 

The most shocking proposal in the bill is regarding the fact that the cases involving rape or incest are not acknowledged.  There are no exceptions granted to the woman who is carrying a child from rape or incest. The petitioner can file the injunction to prevent the woman from aborting even is such cases.

The bill also has included the concept of civil and criminal contempt. It read that if the pregnant woman is found to deny the injunction, or have gone against it, then the incident will be held as civil and criminal contempt. 

State sen. CNN reached Mark Pody and State Rep. Jerry Sexton. Pody has introduced the bill in the Senate. State Rep. Jerry Sexton proposed the Tennessee house bill. But CNN didn’t get any response or comments from both parties. 

The state senate bill got passed last Thursday after a second consideration. The first consideration of the bill had made its way last week through the State house. When the bill is passed in the second consideration as well, it was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. 

If the bill clears the hurdle even in Senate, it is most likely to come into effect from July 1.

But there is a big hurdle for the bill in Senate. Referring to the 1992 case Planned Parenthood vs. Casey, the supreme court had given a verdict that says that the states are not entitled to ask anyone to inform their partners about the abortion. The bill that is proposed in the Senate will then hold unconstitutional. 

The Tennessee advocates have shared a HuffPost article through Facebook on Feb 12. The lawmakers that advocate Planned Parenthood declared that it as unconstitutional, insulting and dangerous period.

The United States continuously sees a rise in anti-abortion legislation in recent years. Under such circumstances, the bill is now proposed in the Senate. Trump administration had always supported for tighter abortion restrictions. 

Some of the proposed changes to the abortion policies have been blocked by the court. In a case in July last year, Federal judges have blocked controversial abortion restrictions out of Tennessee and Georgia. Many states have attacked abortion access. Now, even Tennessee is witnessing criticism from lawmakers about easy abortion access in recent years. 

Last year, a federal appeal court stated that the law that bans abortion can be put to effect under certain circumstances. The court ruled out that an abortion due to prenatal diagnosis of Down’s syndrome, fetus’ race and sex will fall under the Law that bans abortions.