Full House Committee passes Hill's 20-week abortion bill

NASHVILLE — A local legislator's bill to further restrict Tennessee's abortion laws passed yet another hurdle Tuesday.The majority of the 19-member House Health Committee vocally voted to pass Jonesborough Rep. Matthew Hill's "Tennessee Infants Protection Act," which would ban abortions past the 20th week of gestation if a doctor determines the fetus to be viable, meaning it can survive outside a woman's body."Simply put, it's a post-viability ban on abortions. It does have limited exceptions. The bill requires an assessment of fetal viability at 20 weeks," Hill told Health Committee members."That is simply because of the science behind it," he said. "We know through science and through medicine, that viability can occur as early as the 22nd week and there is a margin of error in determining, of course, the gestational age of the baby."House Bill 1189 also considers the 24th gestational week as when the fetus is viable.The legislation states that doctors knowingly performing abortions on viable fetuses could be charged with a Class C felony and have their licenses revoked."House Bill 1189 is designed to hold physicians who perform abortions after an unborn child has been deemed medically viable accountable for their actions," Hill said in a statement.Roe v. Wade, the widely-known 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, established that the interests of a woman were above those of a fetus until the fetus was determined to be viable."A fetus becomes 'viable' when it is "potentially able to live outside the mother's womb, albeit with artificial aid. Viability is usually placed at about seven months (28 weeks) but may occur earlier, even at 24 weeks," the ruling reads.Hill said this bill is closely aligned to legislation in over a dozen other states, including Ohio, which had never been challenged in court.During deliberation, citizen Hadleigh Tweedall provided committee members with an emotional testimony about her own abortion experience while living in Tennessee.At 15 weeks pregnant, Tweedall was notified she was having a baby girl, but a test had determined her daughter had Down syndrome. To completely confirm the Down syndrome, Tweedall said her doctor asked her to take an amniocentesis test."I wanted to have the test right away, but it was the middle of December and every maternal fetal medicine office within a few hours of Nashville was closed (and) then booked because of the holidays. The earliest I could get it was two weeks later at 17 weeks pregnant," Tweedall said.After testing, Tweedall learned her baby was also diagnosed with non immune hydrops fetali."This meant that our daughter was filling with fluid and her organs were shutting down one-by-one," Tweedall emotionally stated.Doctors told the Tweedalls that if their daughter survived birth, she would not live longer than a few weeks. Calling it the hardest choice of her life, Tweedall told the committee she chose to end her daughter's life."My doctor told me I was unable to end my pregnancy in my own state of Tennessee. I was too far along to get services at a clinic and hospitals here denied my request. My husband and I were forced to travel out of state for our abortion." Tweedall said."On the worst day of my life, I couldn't even go home to my own bed. I had never given much thought to the anti-abortion or pro-choice stance until the laws put in place failed me, leaving me feeling alone, scared and quite frankly angry. Tennessee's existing laws failed me and this bill creates further restrictions."Hill did acknowledge that his legislation had exemptions for emergency situations, such as Tweedalls.Rep. Sherry Jones, D-Nashville, questioned abortion legislation, stating "a woman is smart enough to know what she wants to do or not. ... I think it's a very narrow look at a situation that is huge."With Tuesday's passage, Hill's legislation will move on to the House Finance, Ways and Means Committee.Email Zach Vance at zvance@johnsoncitypress.com. Follow Zach Vance on Twitter at @ZachVanceJCP. Like him on Facebook at Facebook.com/ZachVanceJCP.