The Tennessee General Assembly has passed legislation that would hold out-of-state distributors of abortion pills accountable when the drugs are mailed into the state and result in the death of a preborn child.
The goal of the bill is to stop mail-order abortions that are killing thousands of babies and undermining the pro-life law Tennessee approved to protect unborn children from abortions.
House Bill 5 creates a civil cause of action allowing certain family members, including the baby’s mother, to file a wrongful death lawsuit against those who send abortion-inducing drugs into Tennessee.
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It provides for statutory damages of at least $1 million if the plaintiff proves by a preponderance of the evidence that the drugs caused the death of a preborn child.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Gino Bulso, R-Brentwood, passed both the House and Senate and now heads to the desk of Gov. Bill Lee for his signature.
Bulso said the measure builds on the state’s existing strong pro-life protections.
“The overturning of Roe v. Wade marked an important step in the fight to eliminate abortion in the United States, but our work is far from finished,” Bulso said. “Tennessee already has strong pro-life laws on the books, but tragically, mail-order abortions continue to kill thousands of innocent unborn children every year. It’s time we end the slaughter once and for all and recognize that each of us is made in the image of God. This legislation’s passage is a critical step in our efforts to promote life, protect women and ensure morality defines our laws.”
The legislation strengthens enforcement against chemical abortions by providing a financial deterrent to out-of-state abortion pill suppliers who evade Tennessee’s ban on the practice. It does not create a new felony but adds a civil liability mechanism.
Tennessee’s laws already protect nearly all preborn children from abortion. The Human Life Protection Act safeguards the vast majority of unborn children, yet the persistent flow of abortion pills through the mail undermines those protections.
With passage, Tennessee joins several other states in using civil lawsuits as an additional tool to deter the distribution of abortion pills that kill preborn children and to better enforce the state’s commitment to protecting innocent life.
