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