Bill Declaring Personhood Begins at Conception Passes Tennessee General Assembly
Tennessee | May 7, 2021
According to a bill passed Thursday by the Tennessee General Assembly, the unborn are people at the moment of conception. This was accomplished through changes to civil law, by extending wrongful death liability for the unborn all the way to conception. In effect, this legislation confers personhood the moment an egg is fertilized.
The legal change in the civil definition of personhood wasn’t presented in the caption text. It was mentioned once in a single sentence under the bill’s summary. Additionally, the name given to the bill by the sponsors – the “Prenatal Life and Liberty Act” – wasn’t mentioned anywhere in the bill’s language, caption text, or summary.
Under current Tennessee law, someone who murders a woman and her unborn child may be charged with double homicide. In civil court, however, an individual may only be sued for the woman’s death – not an unborn child preceding viability outside the womb. This bill would allow the civil definition of human victims to mirror the definition of a human being in criminal law.
The bill also prevents any child or parent from filing civil causes of action against doctors for not disclosing certain conditions that may have influenced an abortion decision. Those actions are legally referred to as “wrongful life” and “wrongful birth,” respectively.
State Senator Mike Bell (R-Riceville), the sponsor on the act, explained during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that wrongful birth and life claims are common law concepts – not enshrined in Tennessee Code. Since they aren’t in state law, they’re up to judicial interpretation…
(Excerpts from The Tennessee Star)