Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

Tennessee Senate Bill SB0194 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1
2	2	HOUSE BILL 26
3	3	By Bulso
4	4
5	5	SENATE BILL 194
6	6	By Hensley
7	7
8	8
9	9	SB0194
10	10	000534
11	11	- 1 -
12	12
13	13	AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 29;
14	14	Title 39, Chapter 15, Part 2; Title 53; Title 63 and
15	15	Title 68, relative to the Unborn Child Protection Act
16	16	of 2025.
17	17
18	18	WHEREAS, the General Assembly finds that:
19	19	(1) Human life begins at fertilization;
20	20	(2) An unborn child is entitled to the full and equal protection of the laws that
21	21	prohibit violence against any other person;
22	22	(3) It is a federal crime, prohibited by 18 U.S.C. § 1461, to mail abortion pills or
23	23	to receive abortion pills in the mail. Such conduct is punishable by imprisonment for five
24	24	years;
25	25	(4) It is also a federal crime, prohibited by 18 U.S.C. § 1462(c), to transport
26	26	abortion pills in interstate or foreign commerce;
27	27	(5) These statutes are fully enforceable now that Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113
28	28	(1973), has been overruled, and the statute of limitations for each of these crimes is five
29	29	years; and
30	30	(6) Violations of 18 U.S.C. § 1461–1462 are predicate offenses under the federal
31	31	Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), which exposes abortion-pill
32	32	distribution networks and their donors to civil RICO liability as well as criminal
33	33	prosecution as a racketeering enterprise under both state and federal law; now,
34	34	therefore,
35	35	BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSE MBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
36	36
37	37
38	38	- 2 - 000534
39	39
40	40	SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 29, Chapter 34, Part 2, is amended by
41	41	adding the following new section:
42	42	(a) This section is known and may be cited as the "Unborn Child Protection Act
43	43	of 2025."
44	44	(b) A person or entity, including, but not limited to, a manufacturer, distributor,
45	45	seller, or reseller, of an abortion-inducing drug shall not mail or deliver an abortion-
46	46	inducing drug into this state.
47	47	(c) As used in this section, "abortion-inducing drug":
48	48	(1) Means a drug or medication that is intended to be used, and is used,
49	49	to terminate the life of an unborn child;
50	50	(2) Includes mifepristone, misoprostol, mifeprex (RU-486), when
51	51	possessed or distributed for the purpose of terminating the life of an unborn child;
52	52	and
53	53	(3) Does not include a drug or medication that is possessed or distributed
54	54	for a purpose that does not include the termination of the life of an unborn child,
55	55	such as misoprostol that is possessed or distributed for the purpose of treating a
56	56	stomach ulcer.
57	57	(d) Notwithstanding another law to the contrary, a person or entity who mails or
58	58	delivers an abortion-inducing drug into this state and the mailing or delivery results in the
59	59	death of an unborn child is strictly liable in the amount of five million dollars ($5,000,000)
60	60	in damages for the death of the unborn child.
61	61	(e) Any action brought to recover such damages must proceed as provided in §
62	62	20-5-106.
63	63	(f) An action brought pursuant to subsection (d) must be commenced within five
64	64	(5) years of the death of the unborn child.
65	65
66	66
67	67	- 3 - 000534
68	68
69	69	SECTION 2. This act takes effect July 1, 2025, the public welfare requiring it.