Last night at a town hall in Jonesborough, Tennessee, a woman shared her story: she was denied prenatal care by her OB-GYN because the doctor objected to the fact that she isn’t married. She’s been with her partner for 15 years and has a 13-year-old child.
The doctor told her that because she was unwed, they didn’t feel comfortable treating her because it went against their “Christian values.”
Now, she’s traveling out of state to Virginia to receive prenatal care.
This is exactly what Republicans were counting on. Earlier this year, the state passed the 2025 Medical Ethics Defense Act, which gives physicians, and even insurers, the legal right to deny care to patients based on any religious, moral, or ethical belief. There are no protections for people in rural areas with limited options. There’s no requirement to refer patients elsewhere. And there’s no legal recourse. The woman at the town hall explained that her representatives are not responsive to her questions, even as she repeatedly calls Sen. Marsha Blackburn. When she reached staff at Sen. Bill Hagerty’s office, they told her, “he’s not obligated to listen to his constituents.”
Last Spring, House bill sponsor Rep. Bryan Terry (R–Murfreesboro) claimed the law would help Tennessee recruit and retain physicians, according to Nashville Scene. That’s false. The state has seen a decline in OB-GYNs since Tennessee’s total abortion ban went into effect. Tennessee has the highest maternal mortality rate in the country and ranks among the worst for infant mortality. Combine that with the refusal to expand Medicaid and the lack of rural maternity care, and it’s no surprise Tennessee was named the worst state in the nation to live in, by a recent CNBC study.
And now, thanks to the Medicaid cuts in President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” 300,000 Tennesseans may lose health insurance, and nine rural hospitals are at risk of closure. For communities already struggling to keep clinics and hospitals open and with new legal protections for any physician to deny healthcare to whoever they want based on their “lifestyle,” the impact will be anything but beautiful.
Our Republican legislature claims to be “pro-life.” So why are we denying care to pregnant women who want to have babies? Why are we trying to restrict access to IVF?* Why are we closing off options for families and kids to receive nutritious meals this summer? Why are we shutting down hospitals in places desperate for them?
“It’s absolutely not pro-life—and not very Christian either,” said Rep. Gloria Johnson, as she reshared this story. “And who else are they not going to treat? I had a friend say: what about someone who’s addicted to drugs or alcohol, or who’s struggling with mental health? If you can just refuse treatment to anyone whose lifestyle you disagree with—that’s not medical ethics. That’s fascism.”
Calls to the Medical Ethics Defense Act’s sponsors, Rep. Bryan Terry (R–Murfreesboro) and Sen. Ferrell Haile (R-Gallatin) were not returned.
This is horrifying. And we demand answers—now.
Stay tuned as this story develops.
*Tennessee became the first state in the South to protect contraception and fertility treatments with the Contraception Fertility Treatment and Contraceptive Protection Act that went into effect on July 1. I’m highly suspicious of its practical impact as we head into a new session this January as extremist politicians promised a response.
mslauren2930 on July 19th, 2025 at 23:59 UTC »
“Pro-life” lol
chicklette on July 19th, 2025 at 18:31 UTC »
It was never about the fetus.
DemocracyNow2025 on July 19th, 2025 at 17:14 UTC »
Under his eye!