Tennessee Republican Sen. Mark Pody rejected an anti-abortion bill on Tuesday after GOP lawmakers in the House of Representatives amended it to criminalize abortion, opening the door to prosecution for women. Similar bills introduced in other states have drawn rebukes from members of both parties and typically stall after their introduction. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
Some Republican lawmakers have routinely proposed criminally prosecuting women for abortions since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, despite bipartisan condemnation and criticism from national anti-abortion groups.
These bills never made it to the finish line, but they continue to circulate in legislatures across the country. So-called “abortion abolitionists” who believe that abortion should be classified as homicide and that fetuses, embryos, and zygotes should be afforded the same legal protections that people often enjoy behind these measures, United Newsroom reported.
This year, the Foundation to Abolish Abortion praised Republican lawmakers in Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee who introduced bills punishing people who have abortions.
In Illinois, Republican Sen. Neil Anderson filed the bill Bill that would ban abortion from the moment of fertilization and classify abortion as homicide in a Democrat-led state. Anderson’s bill failed to advance beyond introduction and he lost his leadership position in the chamber this month, Capitol News Illinois reported.
in Tennessee, legislation regarding an anti-abortion monument was changed to criminalize abortion, potentially allowing women seeking abortions to be charged with murder. Senator Mark Pody, a Republican supporter of the bill, said he did not have the votes in the Senate to pass a bill containing the criminalization amendment, Tennessee Overlook reported.
Elsewhere, proposals are emerging in several Republican-led legislatures to limit the availability of abortion drugs – the most common way to end a pregnancy – while Democratic lawmakers seek to strengthen contraceptive shield laws.
Our reproductive rights reporting team will be tracking related bills in a biweekly roundup as sessions continue this winter and spring. Depending on the partisan makeup of the state legislature and other state government officials, some bills are more likely to pass and become law than others.
Republican Party lawmakers continue to introduce bills classifying abortion as homicide
Kentucky
House Bill 714: Abortion is already illegal in Kentucky, with no exceptions for victims of rape and incest. This bill, called the “Equal Prenatal Protection Act,” would go further by classifying abortion as homicide unless it is necessary to treat miscarriages or save the life of a pregnant woman. The penalties would be the same as those for killing a person, so the perpetrators would be punished from one year to life in prison.
GOP Representative Richard White presented: similar bill last year it didn’t do anything. The Foundation for the Abolition of Abortion praised the up-to-date solution on Tuesday press release. The organization criticized last month’s decision by a Kentucky prosecutor to withdraw the case charge of feticide against a woman accused of taking abortion drugs.
Status: Introduced in the House on Tuesday, February 24, and referred to the Committee on Committees
Sponsors: Republicans Josh Calloway and Richard White
South Carolina
House Bill 3537: Legislation introduced by GOP Rep. Rob Harris bans abortion from the moment of fertilization. Harris’ bill would also allow prosecution of people who obtain abortions unless it is necessary to control a miscarriage or save the life of a pregnant person.
Harris introduced this bill in previous legislative sessions, but it gained little traction, Gazeta Codzienna SC reported. “Bills like this do nothing but scare women into not wanting to get pregnant,” Tori Nardone, a woman who had to leave South Carolina to get an abortion because of a fatal fetal defect, told lawmakers last month. “Please don’t make the situation worse than it already is.”
Status: Stuck in the House Judiciary Committee
Sponsor: Republican Rob Harris
South Dakota
House Bill 1212: South Dakota bans abortion in most cases, but this bill would codify abortion as feticide in state law and define abortion as a Class B felony punishable by up to life in prison and a fine of up to $50,000. The proposal included exceptions for treatment of a miscarriage or a threat to the life of a pregnant patient.
The bill was postponed until the last day of the legislative session by the House Health and Human Services Committee, essentially preventing its progress.
Status: Pushed aside
Sponsors: Rep. Tony Randolph and Senator John Carley, Republicans
Republican-led states are pushing bills to restrict abortion pills
Mississippi
House Bill 1613: This legislation would make it illegal to sell, manufacture, distribute or dispense abortion-inducing drugs in a state that prohibits all abortions unless the mother’s life or health is in danger and if rape or incest is reported to law enforcement.
Violators face one to 10 years in prison, and the state’s attorney general may impose civil penalties against the individual, Mississippi Free Press reported. The House passed the bill on Wednesday, February 11. If the law enters into force, it will come into force in July.
Status: The matter was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee last week
Sponsors: Republicans Kevin Horan and William Tracy Arnold
South Dakota
House Bill 1274: The state House passed a bill this week that would make it illegal to dispense, distribute, sell or advertise abortion pills and any other abortion-related “instruments” or “items” South Dakota Spotlight reported.
Under this solution, the attorney general could seek fines of up to $10,000 for each violation, and the money would be transferred to a fund used to conduct anti-abortion prosecutions, Searchlight claims. A South Dakota-based AG is already involved in a legal battle with a New York-based nonprofit advertisements for abortion drugs last year it ran at gas stations across the state.
Status: approved by the House on Tuesday, February 24; in the Senate State Affairs Committee
Sponsors: Republicans John Hughes and Greg Blanc
Democratic lawmakers seek to strengthen protections for abortion rights
New Hampshire
Senate Bill 551: New Hampshire, led by the GOP, is the only state in New England without a law protecting abortion providers and patients from out-of-state investigations into reproductive health care. Legislation introduced in February by Democratic Sen. Debra Altschiller would ensure the right to reproductive health care and prohibit law enforcement from cooperating with investigations of related health care, New Hampshire Bulletin reported.
The bill would make it impossible for the governor to grant extradition requests for abortion providers and patients. It would also prohibit insurers from penalizing reproductive health care providers and allow residents to sue people or agencies that try to interfere with their reproductive rights, according to the Bulletin.
Status: On Tuesday, February 17, the Senate Judiciary Committee adopted the bill by a 3-2 majority:inadvertent law-making”
Sponsor: Democratic Senator Debra Altschiller
Oregon
House Bill 4088: Oregon law approved in July 2023, protects providers offering reproductive health care from loss of licensure and protects patients and providers from related out-of-state investigations. Legislation introduced this year will strengthen these guarantees.
This bill would prohibit the Governor from accepting extradition requests from other states for providers offering legally protected reproductive health care and would prohibit law enforcement agencies from cooperating with interstate investigations of related care, Oregon’s Capital Chronicle reported. It would also prevent state officials from revoking the midwifery licenses of people who face criminal penalties for reproductive health care in other states.
Status: Approved by the House on Monday, February 16; approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, February 25
Sponsors: Rep. Lisa Fragala and Sen. Lisa Reynolds, Democrats
This story was originally produced by News from the USwhich is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network that includes the Ohio Capital Journal and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
