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.

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.