TBA Law Blog

TBA Law Blog

Senate Passes Amendment to Refine State Abortion Law

Posted by: Azya Thornton on Apr 11, 2025

A proposal that passed the Tennessee Senate on Monday could add specific language to the state’s law that effectively bans abortion, Local Memphis reports. Sen. Richard Briggs, R-Knoxville, proposed SB1004, which initially required the state to report annually on gifts, grants or donations made toward constructing a monument dedicated to terminated pregnancies. The bill was amended to revise the state’s Human Life Protection Act, which currently allows abortion care only if a physician determines the pregnancy poses a “serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function.” The amendment would define that phrase as “any medically diagnosed condition that so complicates the pregnancy of a woman as to directly or indirectly cause the substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function.” Critics have said the law forces physicians to make legal as well as medical judgments. Rep. Bryan Terry, R-Murfreesboro, who introduced the House bill, said it was introduced as a way to improve the state's law after the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade decision. The proposal passed the Senate in a 25-3 vote and must now pass the House before becoming law.

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