Two Tennessee conservative lawmakers have introduced a first-of-its-kind bill which would provide children in the womb the same full legal protections all other people are granted.
Sponsored by Rep. Jody Barrett (R-Dickson-District 69) and Sen. Mark Pody (R-Lebanon-District 17), HB0570/SB0738’s amended language will pivot its focus to aligning existing state statutes regarding protection of life to unequivocally include preborn children, making it the strongest anti-abortion legislation ever in the state should it pass.
HB0570 recognizes that “innocent human life, created in the image of God, should be equally protected under the laws from fertilization to natural death.” It further asserts “all preborn children should be protected with the same criminal and civil laws protecting the lives of born persons” and that “to protect pregnant mothers from being pressured to abort their children, provisions should be repealed that may allow a person to solicit, direct, aid, or attempt to aid a mother to abort her child.”
In essence, the legislation would apply the same standards of justice and enforcement for the unborn through “the same presumptions, defenses, justifications, laws of parties, immunities, and clemencies as would apply to the homicide [or assault] of a person who had been born alive.”
