UPDATE: Vote delayed until Tuesday, 02/27/2018.  You still have time to email House Health Committee members.  Click on link below! Thank you! As a result of the strong response last week from pro-life Tennesseans, legislation to permanently re-direct the state's Title X funds away from Planned Parenthood was passed through the state House Health sub-committee. Tennessee Right to Life is particularly grateful to Chairman Bryan Terry (R-Murfreesboro) and Rep. Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) for their leadership in moving the pro-life bill forward. HB 2262 by Rep. Bill Dunn will now be heard on Tuesday, February 20, at 10:30 a.m. Please encourage members of the full House Health Committee to protect Tennessee tax-payers, abortion-vulnerable women and unborn children by voting YES on House Bill 2262. Click Here to Email Committee Members Today! Continue reading

After years of focused efforts by pro-life lawmakers and principled leadership by Governor Haslam, Tennessee successfully implemented policy in 2011 which has resulted in millions of tax dollars being re-directed away from Planned Parenthood facilities in our state. Under Haslam's direction, an administrative process was established which prioritizes public health departments to receive the public funds appropriated for family planning programs rather than private non-profit organizations such as Planned Parenthood. Prior to 2011, Planned Parenthood affiliates in Tennessee received more than $1.1 million dollars annually. Continue reading

MARCH FOR LIFE 2018 STATEMENT Tennessee Right to Life has received notice that certain groups are planning to disrupt this Sunday’s March for Life in Knoxville.  It is regrettable that any group or individual would attempt to draw attention to themselves and their own agendas at an event that is meant to focus on unborn children and their mothers in a peaceful and prayerful manner. Any group or individual that promotes white supremacy or other dehumanizing world views, are not in tandem with the position of Tennessee Right to Life on the value of every person’s dignity and life.  Our organization's march has a single agenda to support the rights of mothers and the unborn, and we don't agree with the violent agenda of white supremacists or Antifa. Tennessee Right to Life is working closely with the Knoxville Police Department to keep our supporters safe and away from harassment from these radical groups.

JANUARY 9, 2018 - In a resounding victory for pro-life Tennesseans, Judges on the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals have rejected a pro-abortion effort to overturn the 2014 voter passage of Amendment 1. "Although the subject of abortion rights will continue to be controversial in Tennessee and across our nation, it is time for uncertainty surrounding the people's 2014 approval and ratification of Amendment 1 to be put to rest," wrote Senior Judge David McKeague, a 2005 appointee of George W. Bush. Tennessee Right to Life expresses profound gratitude to the many supporters, advocates, and voters who sacrificed to see Amendment 1 placed on the ballot and passed by public vote. It was made necessary by a radical pro-abortion decision by the Tennessee Supreme Court in 2000 which wrongly declared a so-called "fundamental right to abortion" in the Tennessee Constitution thereby making enforcement of common-sense protections impossible in Tennessee. Continue reading

Demonstrating pro-life dedication the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday, October 3, passed landmark legislation, 237-189, to extend federal protections to unborn children who have reached 20 weeks fetal age, and those who are born alive during late abortions. Please thank the following Congressmen who both co-sponsored and voted in support of H.R. 36: Diane Black, Marsha Blackburn, Scott DesJarlais, Jimmy Duncan, Chuck Fleischmann, David Kustoff and Phil Roe, MD. Pro-abortion Tennessee Congressmen voting against H.R. 36: Steve Cohen and Jim Cooper. “This bill would save thousands of unborn babies annually from terribly painful deaths,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. Continue reading

U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Considers Merits of Pro-Abortion Challenge Tennessee Right to Life expresses profound gratitude to the Office of Tennessee's Attorney General for strongly defending the 2014 election outcome on pro-life Amendment 1.  In particular, Sarah Campbell, special assistant to the Attorney General, was well prepared and indefatigable last week when arguing that the state's manner of counting votes on Amendment 1 properly followed the process laid forth by the Tennessee Constitution.  "Tennessee did exactly what it had done in prior elections, exactly what it told voters it was going to do and exactly what the constitution says," Campbell told the 3-judge panel who heard oral arguments in the Planned Parenthood challenge of pro-life Amendment 1. "There was no basis for the federal court to intervene," she said, adding that former federal judge Kevin Sharp's pro-abortion ruling last year ordering a recount of ballots "infringes on Tennessee's sovereignty." Continue reading

Despite strong opposition from Planned Parenthood, ACOG and other pro-abortion activists, pro-life legislators have strengthened Tennessee's protective public policies and overwhelmingly passed the Tennessee Infants Protection Act (HB 1189 / SB 1180).  Led by prime sponsor state Rep. Matthew Hill (R-Jonesborough), the state House voted early Wednesday to pass House Bill 1189 by a vote of 69-18. On Monday, the state Senate passed the bill, sponsored by state Senator Joey Hensley, M.D. (R-Hohenwald) by a vote of 27-3.  The bill now goes to Pro-Life Governor Haslam who is unlikely to veto the protective legislation. The bill criminalizes abortions after viability of an unborn child has been established except in the rare instances of threat to the life of the mother. The bill also requires a viability assessment be performed beginning at 20 weeks of pregnancy (LMP) in order to carefully test whether or not the child is able to live outside the womb with or without medical support. The bill establishes a state presumption of viability at 24-weeks gestational development (LMP.) "Tennessee Right to Life is grateful for the leadership of our sponsors in bringing this important pro-life protection," said Brian Harris, president of the state's oldest and largest pro-life organization.  "We thank those pro-life legislators who stood for life at every stage of the legislative process.  Together we will help to ensure that the strongest possible law saves the largest number of women, girls and unborn children from the horror of an elective abortion when the child could otherwise survive," said Harris. Continue reading