MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT) -- Tuesday marks the 40th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion. Four decades later the ruling continues to fuel controversy here in Tennessee.
Hedy Weinberg of the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union contends the Tennessee Legislature is slowly chipping away at the reproductive rights of women.
“Over the last 12 years, Tennessee legislators have attempted to enact a web of restrictions that force government deeper and deeper into the personal and very private decisions about reproductive healthcare that women should be able to make on their own.”
Weinberg says the most recent of those restrictions was enacted last year when a measure was passed requiring doctors providing abortions in Tennessee to have admitting privileges at a local hospital.
Susan Allen speaks for the pro-life group Tennessee Right to Life. She sees the admitting privileges requirement as just common sense.
“If there were complications with the abortion, which does happen, that the doctor – the attending doctor – that was doing the abortion could take the woman to the hospital to give her care.”
Allen says a delegation from Tennessee will be traveling to Washington D.C. this week to take part in the annual March for Life event on Friday.