Life

baby wrapped in a towel

Protecting women, the unborn, and the terminally ill

FACT recognizes and honors the intrinsic value of all human life.

The law should protect the life of every person—no matter how old, young or disabled. Over the past few decades, some in our culture have waged war on human life: legalizing abortion in Roe v. Wade, destroying human embryos in the name of scientific research, and seeking to legalize “mercy” killing through “death with dignity.”

We seek to reverse these life-denying trends and to foster a culture that respects human life.

Abortion

We believe in protecting life in the womb. And that means we believe abortion is wrong.

One way we have fought to protect the unborn was to introduce and then pass the Amendment 1 ballot measure (Senate Joint Resolution 127) in November 2014. The measure sought to provide commonsense abortion regulations like a waiting period and clinic regulations, sensible laws that had been struck down by the Tennessee Supreme court in 2000.

During the 2015 legislative session, we made progress on measures related to Amendment 1 that were signed into law: first, a 48-hour waiting period with in-person counseling by a physician prior to an abortion, which was signed into law by Gov. Haslam on May 18, 2015, and, second, the requirement that all clinics in Tennessee performing more than 50 surgical abortions per year be regulated as ambulatory surgery treatment centers. That regulation took effect on July 1, 2015.

While abortion-specific informed consent and waiting period laws have been enacted, those laws, including the amendment itself, are the subject of a lawsuit in federal court challenging their constitutionality.
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Physician-Assisted Suicide

Another way we have been standing for life is by providing information and feedback concerning physician-assisted suicide to our Tennessee Legislature.

In late September 2015, Davidson County Chancellor Carol McCoy ruled against former gubernatorial candidate John Jay Hooker, who had terminal cancer and wanted the court to strike down as unconstitutional the state’s prohibition on physician-assisted suicide. Ruling in favoring of life, the judge called the practice of physician-assisted suicide “criminal conduct.” Hooker asked that the Tennessee Supreme Court take the case directly.

Physician-assisted suicide is still illegal in Tennessee.

Initiatives

The Rule of Law Life Act

This bill is a replacement for 2019's Heartbeat Bill. The Rule of Law Life Act essentially puts the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinions on abortion construing “liberty” under the 14th Amendment on a direct collision course with the rights of the people under the Ninth Amendment to secure the common law right to “life.”

The Heartbeat Bill

FACT President David Fowler started working with Sen. Mark Pody during legislative session 2019 to rewrite SB 1236, also known as the heartbeat bill, so that it could withstand a constitutional challenge. And then, David gave his testimony in support of the rewritten bill during the August 2019 Summer Study session before the TN Senate Judiciary Committee. It is our hope that the bill will go to the floor in 2020 and pass.

Legislative Victories

2018

On Tuesday, January 9, 2018,  the Sixth Circuit of Appeals voted 3-0 to uphold the people’s vote for Amendment 1, which removed the “right” to abortion the Tennessee Supreme Court “found” in the Tennessee Constitution in 2000. This was again challenged. But then on October 1, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the challenge to Amendment 1, letting the 6th Circuit’s ruling stand. This is a victory for life for Tennesseans!

Find out what FACT is doing to fight for life in Tennessee.

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